AESTHETIC MOVEMENT

The Aesthetic Movement—spanning both the fine and decorative arts—rose in

England and the United States in the 1870s and 1880s. Aestheticism was a
movement celebrating decadent beauty and ‘art for art's sake in the late 19th
century – seen by many as a refreshing change after the materialism of the
Industrial Age. Followers of the movement believed that art should move away
from being utilitarian or useful and that there was a need for more beauty in
everyday life. The movement was heavily influenced by philosophers like
Immanuel Kant who advocated aesthetic autonomy and posited that morality,
utility, or pleasure should not restrict artistic expression.

As the ethos of aestheticism swept through Europe, critic and essayist Walter
Horatio Pater coined the phrase "art for art's sake," which became a cardinal
doctrine of the movement. Artistic expression including design, crafts, architecture,
creative writing, and philosophy, was inspired and shaped by aestheticism. The
movement favored strong, simple colours such as bright blues, greens, and
yellows, while a common theme was the natural world – especially the use of
flowers (especially sunflowers), birds, insects, foliage, butterflies, and feathers.
Artistic expression including design, crafts, architecture, creative writing, and
philosophy, was inspired and shaped by aestheticism. Significant contributors to
aestheticism include the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of young British painters who
emerged in 1848. They were influenced by late medieval Italian art of the 14th and
15th centuries and sought to express the uncomplicated essence of nature in their
art. Early influences on the aesthetic writers were the romantic poets,
including John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley. However, unlike the romantics,
the aesthetes were left uninspired by the natural world and used escapism to create
a world of beauty and colour.

AKASH DEBNATH

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