An introduction to the Aesthetic Movement
"Beauty reveals everything, because it expresses nothing"
Aestheticism
From 1860 to 1900, a group of artists, architects and designers in Britain found themselves united in the search for a new beauty. The Aesthetic Movement aimed to create a new kind of art, an art freed from outworn establishment ideas and Victorian notions of morality. This was to be 'Art for Art's sake' – art that didn't tell stories or make moral points, art that dared simply to offer visual delight and hint at sensuous pleasure.
Collection highlights
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Screen, designed by William Eden Nesfield, made by James Forsyth, 1867, London, England -
Vases, designed by Edward William Godwin and William Watt, about 1877, England -
An Open Book, watercolour, by Albert Moore, about 1884, London, England -
Brooch and hair ornaments, designed by Carlo Giuliano, 1885, London, England -
Teapot, designed by Christopher Dresser, made by James Dixon and Sons, about 1879, Sheffield, England -
Mrs Luke Ionides (1848-1929), oil painting, by William Blake Richmond, 1882, Britain -
Siegfried, Act II, drawing, by Aubrey Vincent Beardsley, about 1892 – 93, England -
Quite too Utterly Utter, songsheet cover, by Alfred Concanen, printed by Stannard & Son, about 1881, Britain -
Fruit, wallpaper design, designed by William Morris and Philip Webb, 1862, London. England -
Peacock Feathers, furnishing fabric, designed by Arthur Silver, made for Liberty & Co., 1887, London, England -
Plate, made by Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co., about 1875 – 85, Cauldron, England -
Design for a book cover for Oscar Wilde's The Sphinx, by Charles Ricketts, 1884, Britain -
The Day Dream, oil painting, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1880, England -
Vase, made by Elkington & Co., 1876, Birmingham, England
Features
Aubrey Beardsley – decadence & desire
"I have one aim – the grotesque. If I am not grotesque, I am nothing"
Chinese blue-and-white ceramics
Discover some of the most iconic and enduring objects in the history of Chinese ceramics
Furnishing the aesthetic home
"If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful".
The wonderful world of Whistler
Charming and tempestuous, James Abbott McNeill Whistler has been described as the first contemporary artist
Header image: Swan, Rush and Iris, design for wallpaper, Walter Crane, 1875, England. Museum no. E.17-1945. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London