Fin De Siãƒâ¨cle French for End of the Century Refers to the Art of the
The Aesthetic Movement
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| Artful Bridegroom, "It is quite consummate, is it not?" Intense Bride, "Information technology is, indeed! Oh, Algernon, let us live up to it!" (from Punch Oct. 1880) |
"To define dazzler, not in the almost abstruse but in the most physical terms possible, to observe not its universal formula, only the formula which expresses almost fairly this or that special manifestation of it, is the aim of the true pupil of aesthetics."- Walter Pater
"Alas! ladies and gentlemen, Art has been maligned… people have acquired the habit of looking, every bit who should say, not at a picture, but through information technology, at some human fact, that shall, or shall non, from a social point of view, better their mental or moral state. [Art] is, still, selfishly occupied with her own perfection only–having no desire to teach–seeking and finding the beautiful in all conditions and in all times…"- James McNeill Whistler
Fin de Siècle
The roots of Aestheticism can be traced dorsum to the 1860'due south; however, it was not until the 1880's that the motion gained noticeable popularity. The Aesthetic movement is often associated with the French term "fin de siècle," or the "cease of the century," which refers to the endmost of an existing era and implies the beginning of a new ane. It is ofttimes used to describe belatedly nineteenth-century Great britain, a fourth dimension when the ideals of the Victorian Age were losing precedence and being replaced by Aesthetic values. The established Victorian lifestyle bankrupt downward partly because U.k.'due south political and economic supremacy faced new challenges in the grade of emerging world powers, like the United States. Essentially, the glory days of Britain'southward empire were coming to an stop, which laid the foundation for a new, strictly anti-Victorian method of thought. The Aesthetic movement denounced the sober morality and middle-class values that characterized the Victorian Historic period and embraced beauty as the principal pursuit of both fine art and life. The movement is ofttimes considered to have concluded with Oscar Wilde's trials, which began in 1895. In doing so, it cleared the path for the emergence of Modernism in the twentieth century.
Fine art for Art'due south Sake
Aesthetic writers and artists rallied behind this slogan, commencement adopted past French poet Théophile Gautier, in their attempts to stress the autonomy of fine art. They felt fine art should be independent from worldly issues, like politics, and should exist appreciated for its own intrinsic beauty rather than for any moral purpose. The aesthetes as well refuted the thought that there was a correlation between art and the age in which information technology was created. In other words, art should not exist interpreted equally historical evidence, but rather appreciated for its own, independent history and progress. Stylistically, their piece of work was highly refined and appealed to the senses. The French author, Vernon Lee, perfectly captured the aesthetes' philosophy on fine art when she remarked, "to appreciate a work of art means, therefore, to capeesh that piece of work of art itself, every bit distinguished from appreciating something outside it, something accidentally or arbitrarily connected with it" (Evangelista five).
Influences
Aestheticism did not all of a sudden sally contained from outside influence. Like all movements, it grew from the ideas of its predecessors and eventually developed its ain unique characteristics. While many individuals influenced the aesthetes, the 2 almost important were Walter Pater and Charles Baudelaire.
Walter Pater (1839- 1894)
The aesthetes were heavily influenced by the English writer Walter Pater and his book, T he Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry, which was published in 1873. The piece sought to outline the important aspects of the Renaissance by examining the works and lives of its artists. Many writers, like John Addington Symonds and Oscar Wilde, had him as a tutor during their Oxford years and thus, familiarized themselves with his work. Consequently, it is the decision of The Renaissance which served as the basic outline for the evolution of aesthetic thought. Within information technology, Pater controversially states, "not the fruit of experience, but experience itself, is the end." He is attempting to convey that information technology is the atypical moment, and non the resulting effects of that moment, that is truly important. Such a statement encourages one to live in the nowadays, and furthermore, to appreciate physical objects themselves rather than the lingering impressions of them. He feels that reflection diminishes the value of the object because our minds will focus on general aspects rather than the true beauty of the object as it existed within a singled-out and fleeting moment. The aesthetes embraced Pater's theories as a ways of understanding the supremacy of beauty over morality and the present over longevity.
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
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| Charles Baudelaire |
Baudelaire was a French poet who is by and large considered to be the fore-runner of the French symbolists, a movement which held numerous parallels to British Aestheticism. Baudelaire's poetry exhibited many qualities that the aesthetes would later adopt. For case, Baudelaire was 1 of the first writers to include sexually explicit material within his poems, every bit some of his subjects were lesbians and vampires (Charles Baudelaire). The aesthetes, following his example, continued to push button back the boundaries, which enclosed sexuality, within their own piece of work. They also gained from Baudelaire an intense desire for sensuality and a need to understand the relationship betwixt art and life. In his book, Aestheticism: The Organized religion of Art in Post- Romantic Literature, Leon Chai takes i of Baudelaire's poems, "Harmonie du Soir"(1857), and uses it to show how Baudelaire's ideas influenced the aesthetes. He notes that Baudelaire appeals to the senses with his description of fragrance within the air, and furthermore, equates life to art when he implies that the torso is similar a violin (Chai 48-62). Oscar Wilde, an aesthetic writer, would further develop this supposed human relationship between art and life. In his essay, "The Disuse of Lying: An Observation"(1891), Wilde claims that "Life imitates Art far more than than Fine art imitates Life." He is essentially arguing that art is superior to life because life relies on art every bit a means of finding expression and beauty. This notion, which was built upon the foundation of Baudelaire'south ideas, would eventually become a major role of aesthetic doctrine.
Hellenism and Aestheticism
The shift in focus from Latin to Greek during the Victorian era had a profound bear upon on British society. Initially, the field of Greek studies belonged to scholars and politicians, and stressed morality; however, it was the aesthetes who transformed the field into one of dissent (Evangelista eleven). They did so by reestablishing the Greek concept of hedonism, or the pursuit of pleasure and dazzler, as the purpose of life. As a consequence, the aesthetes became infamous for their habits of passion and excess, in the forms of sensuality and sexuality. They refuted the strict morality of the age, which was based on Christian principles (Damrosch 1939); instead the aesthetes opted to follow the philosophies of the pagan Greeks. This breakup in conventional moral conviction amongst the aesthetes led to the frequent association of "decadence" with Aestheticism.
It is also of import to notation that Victorian England was an historic period of scientific development and more than specifically, one in which the ideas of Charles Darwin flourished. Science is oftentimes viewed equally a threat to art, every bit its developments are applied and fine art's are largely abstract. If a club makes a pregnant shift towards the sciences, there is a risk that the arts volition exist neglected or made inferior. Consequently, one author notes that the aesthetes praised Hellenic republic as a prime number case of a civilisation that was able to secure a identify for art within a scientific age, and furthermore, sought to emulate their case (Evangelista 12). This is not to say that the aesthetes were adverse to scientific innovation. They also favored the "triumph" of scientific progress over superstition and the "dream-world of Christianity" (Evangelista 12).
The Aesthetic Lifestyle
The aesthetes' commitment to their theories and beliefs was so strong that eventually aestheticism transcended the boundaries of fine art and became a fashion of life. This meant that an aesthete was not merely confirmed as such by his work, but besides by his behavior. For example, one could typically pick out an aesthete simply by his give-and-take selection. They tended to apply exaggerated metaphors and height adjectives, similar "supreme, consummate, utter, and preciously sublime" (Damrosch 1939). Essentially, components of aesthetic ideology can be seen in the fashion the aesthetes approached fashion, sexuality, and alcohol/drugs.
Dandyism
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| An instance of groovy fashion, Oscar Wilde |
Dandyism, to some extent, has always existed. In general, a not bad is ane who pays detail attention to his ain personal appearance. Their apparel is often eccentric, yet elegant. Specific to belatedly-Victorian England, to be a dandy meant to as well elevate the artificial over the natural. The opening lines of Oscar Wilde'due south "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young"(1894) state, "The first duty in life is to be every bit artificial every bit possible." One example of their attraction to artificiality is that they preferred urban, rather than rural, settings and were particularly enamored with London (Jackson 132). Furthermore, Victorian dandies aimed to uphold a high level of sophistication and valued wit equally a measure of such. Many aesthetic writers were well-known dandies, such as Oscar Wilde, Algernon Charles Swinburne, and Walter Pater.
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Sexuality & Habits
In 1885 Britain's Parliament outlawed homosexuality with the Labouchere Amendment. Males defenseless engaging in any type of sexual activity with another male could be sentenced to up to two years in prison house. Despite this law, the tardily-Victorian period saw an increased interest in the exploration of sexuality. Non only were gender distinctions increasingly blurred, but the presence of homoerotic desires became more and more obvious within the public sphere. In fact, information technology was during this menses that the words "homosexual" and "lesbian" were first used. The aesthetes were both products and propagators of these new liberal attitudes towards sexuality. Deborah Lutz claims that "Something of the erotic ever lurks about the Aesthete: he faints with beloved; he luxuriates in exotic decadence; he tends fifty-fifty towards the perverse. He quivers, he throbs with the pure ecstasy of life, with the exquisiteness of his own experience" (Fox 247). Many aesthetes are known to take been either homosexuals or interested in homoeroticism, which can be partly attributed to their fondness of Greek culture. Since the Greeks immune male to male love and fifty-fifty encouraged it equally an acceptable source of pleasance, the concept of homosexuality appears frequently in their art and literature. (Example?) Many aesthetes saw the Greek instance as a justification for their own homoeroticism and felt that such desires were "inseparable from [their] creative and intellectual activities" (Evangelista 19).
Yet, it was more than simply a connexion to the by that led the artists of this movement to cover sexual deviance. The aesthetes were fiercely individualistic, and as a consequence, opposed anything mainstream. They adult a love of "shocking" the middle classes with both their art and lifestyles (Jackson 152). Therefore, they created sexually suggestive pieces of piece of work and adopted liberal sexual attitudes, both of which opposed the Victorian sense of morality. Furthermore, the combination of this desire to shock the conservative minded with their demand to alive inside the present moment, led to the development of many habits which were considered to be vices. Aesthetes were generally seen as heavy consumers of alcohol, specially absinthe, and were fascinated with drugs like opium and hashish, all of which granted them a greater intensity of sensation (Jackson 153). Though not all of the aesthetic artists developed these habits the death of many of them at a young historic period suggests that the habits were fairly prevalent. For example, Wilde died at forty, Aubrey Beardsley at twenty-half-dozen, and Ernest Dowson at thirty-three, among others. Jackson clearly summarizes this notion: "It would seem as if these restless and tragic figures thirsted so much for life, and for the life of the hour, that they put the loving cup to their lips and drained it in one deep draught…" (158).
Important Writers
- Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909)
- John Addington Symonds (1840-1893)
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
- Vernon Lee (1856-1935)
- Arthur Symons (1865-1945)
- Ernest Dowson (1867-1900)
- Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898)
- Max Beerbohm (1872-1956)
References
Chai, Leon. Aestheticism the religion of fine art in post-romantic literature. New York: Columbia Up, 1990. Impress.
"Charles Baudelaire." American Academy of Poets. six October 2009 <http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/607>.
Damrosch, David. The Longman Anthology of British Literature, 2d Meaty Edition Volume B. New York: Longman Group, 2003. Impress.
Evangelista, Stefano. British Aestheticism and Ancient Hellenic republic: Hellenism, Reception, Gods in Exile. Groovy Great britain: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Print.
Fox, Paul (ed.). Decadences: Morality and Aesthetics in British Literature. New York: Ibidem-Verlag, 2007. Print.
Jackson, Holbrook. The Eighteen Nineties A Review of Art and Ideas at the Shut of the Nineteenth Century. New York: Tantallon, 2002. Impress.
Pater, Walter. The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry. 11th ed. Project Gutenberg. Web. five October 2009.
Wilde, Oscar. "The Decay Of Lying: An Observation." Online Books, Poems, Short Stories – Read Print Library. Spider web. 27 Oct. 2009. <http://www.readprint.com/work-6371/The-Decay-Of-Lying-An-Ascertainment-Oscar-Wilde>.
Wilde, Oscar. "Shorter Prose Pieces." Online Books, Poems, Short Stories – Read Impress Library. Web. 27 October. 2009. <http://world wide web.readprint.com/work-6382/Shorter-Prose-Pieces-Oscar-Wilde>.
Images of Baudelaire, Pater, and Wilde courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Analogy from Punch magazine at
https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/punch-1.jpg
Contributor:
Delanie Laws
Source: https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/aestheticism/