The aesthetic movement's 'art for art's sake'.
Like the arts and crafts movement, the aesthetic movement aimed to escape the ugliness and materialism of the industrial age, by focusing instead on producing art that was beautiful rather than having a deeper meaning – 'Art for Art's sake'.
These new aesthetic movement artists included bohemians such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones; maverick figures such as James McNeill Whistler, avant-garde architects and designers such as Edward William Godwin, Christopher Dresser and Daniel Cottier; and the painters of grand classical subjects who belonged to the circle of Frederic Leighton and G.F. Watts.
From 1860 to 1900, the Aesthetic Movement initiated artistic and design changes and the concepts of a middle-class lifestyle. Today aestheticism is acknowledged for its revolutionary renegotiation of the relationships between the artist and society, between art and ethics, and between the fine and decorative arts, all of which prepared the way for the art movements of the 20th century.
Table designed by Edward William Godwin c.1870
Sold by us to a private collection.
Aesthetes live in a 'House Beautiful'.
Individual Aesthetic artists drew inspiration from a variety of cultures and periods. They found beauty in Renaissance painting, ancient Greek sculpture and East Asian art and design, especially Japanese prints. This rich eclecticism is one of the Aesthetic Movement's most intriguing characteristics.
A few key members of Rossetti's circle took a keen interest in the design arts, seeking to transform banal and pretentious furnishings and domestic objects of the middle-class home. With a refined sensibility to line and geometrical form or, in the case of William Morris, with a feeling for natural ornament and harmonious colour, these designers aimed to produce chairs and tables worthy of the name 'Art Furniture' and to create ceramics, textiles, and wallpapers entirely unlike ordinary 'trade' wares. These were to be quality household goods that would please the eye of the artist and grace the houses of Aesthetic patrons, collectors and connoisseurs.
A perfect example of this approach can be seen in William Morris's Red House, designed by architect Philip Webb and described by Rossetti as 'more a poem than a house'.
The ideal of 'The House Beautiful' sparked a revolution in building and interior decoration and led ultimately to a more widespread recognition of the necessity of beauty in everyday life. This idea would have a lasting impact not only on architecture but also on social theory and political thinking for years to come.
A chair designed by Daniel Cottier and retailed by Cottier & Co., 1870's
Sold by us to a private collection
You get beauty when you aim for useful
I have found that all ugly things are made by those who strive to make something beautiful, and that all beautiful things are made by those who strive to make something useful.
Oscar Wilde, 1883
The Aesthetes' eccentric lifestyles piqued public fascination, fuelling a vogue for all things 'Artistic', whether this was an expensive redesign by a fashionable architect or the acquisition of a single Japanese fan for the mantelpiece. Manufacturers and new commercial ventures responded to the demand, making distinctive items available at various price points, attractive to even a modest budget.
In 1876, the British Government appointed Christopher Dresser as an emissary to Japan and sent him to visit Japan as one of the first British designers to visit the recently re-opened country. He represented the South Kensington Museum, and was received at court by the Japanese Emperor, who ordered Dresser to be treated as a guest of the nation – all doors were open to him. He was requested by the Japanese Government to write a report on 'Trade with Europe'. From 1879 to 1882 Dresser was in partnership with Charles Holme as Dresser & Holme, wholesale importers of Oriental goods, with a warehouse at 7 Farringdon Road, London.
A Japanese sake bottle designed by Christopher Dresser and made by the Linthorpe Pottery c. 1870
Sold by us to a private collection
Retailing the Aesthetic movement in London, New York, Boston and Sydney.
Daniel Cottier is regarded as the man who exported the Aesthetic movement; In 1873 he opened a New York branch at 144 Fifth Avenue. In New York, Boston and elsewhere, Cottier & Co. supplied ecclesiastical and domestic stained glass imported from the London workshop, which came to employ over a hundred men. He also supplied a variety of other goods, from gas lights to oriental carpets, as well as decorating interiors and dealing in pictures and antiques. Cottier's taste in aesthetic furnishings and modern paintings spread across the United States as far as Oregon. Also in 1873, Cottier began to export the Aesthetic Movement to Australia when he opened a branch in Sydney in partnership with John Lamb Lyon, a fellow Scot with whom he had trained in Glasgow and London.
Table designed by Richard Norman Shaw c.1870
From the gothic revival to Anglo-Japanese.
The artful home showcased an array of artistic bric-a-brac, but items of Japanese origin or inspiration took pride of place. Japan's forced opening to foreign trade in 1853 revitalised the European veneration of all things Japanese. Edward William Godwin and Richard Norman Shaw were chief among the architects and designers pioneering the Anglo-Japanese style. Both trained with and started working in the gothic revival and old English style but then moved on to work in a more aesthetic Anglo-Japanese style. Whilst Norman Shaw then moved on to pioneer the Queen Anne Revival, Godwin continued to dominate the Aesthetic style. Aesthetic furniture designs also reference Asian, Egyptian, Greek, vernacular, and even delicate 18-century English examples.
Manufacturing and commercial establishments launched their own 'Art' lines, engaging versatile celebrity designers, including Godwin, Dresser, Walter Crane, John Moyr Smith and Lewis Foreman Day to produce designs for all types of furnishings.
Paid of bronze andirons 1870's
Sold by us to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston in 2026
The first metalwork designed by Godwin to have been acquired by any museum worldwide.
The fall of the Aesthete
The Aesthetic project finally ended following the scandal of the trial, conviction and imprisonment of Oscar Wilde for homosexuality in 1895, following its outlaw that same year. The fall of Wilde effectively discredited the Aesthetic Movement with the general public, though many of its ideas and styles remained popular into the 20th century.
Table designed by John Moyr Smith, 1870
Sold by us to a private collection.