Introductory description

This module aims to familiarize students with the conceptual, visual and material aspects of the Aesthetic Movement in Britain from the 1860s to the end of the nineteenth century.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Theories of ‘Art for Art’s Sake’
Aesthetic painting: Rossetti and Solomon
Aesthetic painting: Whistler
The Grosvenor Gallery and exhibition strategies
The image of the aesthete
The aesthetic interior
Aestheticism, politics, and the Arts and Crafts movement
Aubrey Beardsley and decadence

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a broad knowledge of the visual and material culture of the Aesthetic Movement produced in Britain in the late-nineteenth century
• Demonstrate an understanding of art theoretical debates and their relationship to painting and other visual forms
• Discuss recent theoretical and historiographical approaches to late Victorian art and culture
• Show an understanding of the technical and stylistic aspects of Aesthetic Movement objects
• Demonstrate an understanding of conceptions of display and spectatorship operative in late Victorian Britain
• Present an argument, initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• Ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• Familiarity with essential ICT skills
• Ability to collaborate effectively with others
• Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• Ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
• Ability to formulate a sustained argument
• Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• Sophisticated visual analysis
• Bibliographical skills at an appropriate level
• Critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Indicative reading list

Walter Pater, The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry, 1873
Oscar Wilde, Intentions, 1891
Susan Casteras and Colleen Denny, The Grosvenor Gallery: a palace of art in Victorian England, 1996
Lionel Lambourne, The Aesthetic Movement, 1996
Elizabeth Prettejohn, ed., After the Pre-Raphaelites: Art and Aestheticism in Victorian Britain, 1999
Tim Barringer and Elizabeth Prettejohn, Frederic Leighton: antiquity, renaissance, modernity, 1999
Charlotte Gere, ed., The House Beautiful: Oscar Wilde and the Aesthetic Interior, 2000
Deborah Cohen, Household Gods: The British and their possessions, 2006
Diana Maltz, British Aestheticism and the Urban Working Classes, 1870-1900, 2005
Robert Upstone, ed., The Age of Rossetti, Burne-Jones and Watts: Symbolism in Britain, 1860-1910, 1997

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

• demonstrate a broad knowledge of the visual and material culture of the Aesthetic Movement produced in Britain in the late-nineteenth century
• demonstrate an understanding of art theoretical debates and their relationship to painting and other visual forms
• discuss recent theoretical and historiographical approaches to late Victorian art and culture
• show an understanding of the technical and stylistic aspects of Aesthetic Movement objects
• demonstrate an understanding of conceptions of display and spectatorship operative in late Victorian Britain
• sophisticated visual analysis
• critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Transferable skills

• present an argument, initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• familiarity with essential ICT skills
• ability to collaborate effectively with others
• show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
• ability to formulate a sustained argument
• think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• bibliographical skills at an appropriate level