Item 1: Un Revers (1909)

This self-caricature sums up Beerbohm’s complex attitudes regarding comedy, celebrity status, and his own talents. Titled Un Revers—i.e., a reversal or second thought—it depicts a 37-year-old artist whose reputation had soared. The playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) dubbed Beerbohm “the incomparable Max,” and other public figures sang his praises. Here, however, he is droopy and distracted, dressed to the nines yet wearing carpet slippers. Discarded manuscripts litter the floor, signaling his dissatisfaction with his labors. He unhappily asks himself, both seriously and ironically, “They call me the inimitable, and the incomparable, and the sprightly and whimsical ... I wonder if I am.” The next year, he married and left London for a reclusive life in Italy.