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
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Aubrey Beardsley – decadence & desire
"I have one aim – the grotesque. If I am not grotesque, I am nothing"
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Chinese blue-and-white ceramics
Discover some of the most iconic and enduring objects in the history of Chinese ceramics
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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".
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The wonderful world of Whistler
Charming and tempestuous, James Abbott McNeill Whistler has been described as the first contemporary artist
Collection highlights
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Screen, designed by William Eden Nesfield, made by James Forsyth, 1867, London, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
Vases, designed by Edward William Godwin and William Watt, about 1877, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
An Open Book, watercolour, by Albert Moore, about 1884, London, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
Brooch and hair ornaments, designed by Carlo Giuliano, 1885, London, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
Teapot, designed by Christopher Dresser, made by James Dixon and Sons, about 1879, Sheffield, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
Mrs Luke Ionides (1848-1929), oil painting, by William Blake Richmond, 1882, BritainV&A South Kensington -
Siegfried, Act II, drawing, by Aubrey Vincent Beardsley, about 1892 – 93, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
Quite too Utterly Utter, songsheet cover, by Alfred Concanen, printed by Stannard & Son, about 1881, BritainV&A East Storehouse -
Fruit, wallpaper design, designed by William Morris and Philip Webb, 1862, London. EnglandV&A South Kensington -
Peacock Feathers, furnishing fabric, designed by Arthur Silver, made for Liberty & Co., 1887, London, EnglandV&A East Storehouse -
Plate, made by Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co., about 1875 – 85, Cauldron, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
The Day Dream, oil painting, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1880, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
Vase, made by Elkington & Co., 1876, Birmingham, EnglandV&A South Kensington -
Design for a book cover for Oscar Wilde's The Sphinx, by Charles Ricketts, 1884, BritainV&A South Kensington
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Header image:
Swan, Rush and Iris, design for wallpaper, Walter Crane, 1875, England. Museum no. E.17-1945. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London