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.

Features

Header image: Swan, Rush and Iris, design for wallpaper, Walter Crane, 1875, England. Museum no. E.17-1945. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London