The Aesthetic Movement and Decadence

The Aesthetic Movement

The Aesthetic Movement developed in universities and intellectual circles during the late 19th century. Beginning in France with Gautier, it reflected artists' frustration and uncertainty, a reaction against bourgeois materialism and moral codes. French artists sought refuge in aesthetic isolation, embracing Gautier's concept of "Art for Art's Sake." The bohemian lifestyle, with its pursuit of sensation and excess, embodied this protest against monotony.

The Movement in England

American painter James Whistler, working in England, imported this doctrine. However, the roots of the English Aesthetic Movement can be traced to the Romantic poet Keats. Rossetti exemplified an artist wholly dedicated to art, as did Ruskin in his search for beauty in life.

Walter Pater's Influence

Walter Pater's Studies in the History of the Renaissance and his masterpiece Marius the Epicurean achieved immediate success due to their potentially demoralizing message. Rejecting religious faith, Pater championed art as the sole means of halting time's passage. He believed life should be lived in the spirit of art, with the artist's task being to feel sensations. This new aesthetic position implied that art had no reference to life and need not be didactic.

The Yellow Book and Decadence

Pater's works profoundly influenced figures like Oscar Wilde and contributed to The Yellow Book, a periodical reflecting decadent taste. The term "decadent" generally signified a decline in values.

Key Features of the Aesthetic Movement

• Excessive attention to the self
• Hedonistic attitude
• Perversity in subject matter
• Disenchantment with contemporary society
• Evocative use of language

Decadence as a European Movement

Decadence was a European movement. French figures like Verlaine and Mallarmé, influenced by Baudelaire, contributed to the journal "Le Décadent." Huysmans' Against Nature (À Rebours) depicts the creation of an artificial life in pursuit of unusual sensations. In Italy, D'Annunzio's The Child of Pleasure (Il Piacere), along with Pascoli and Gozzano, represent this movement.