Aesthetism and Decadence Art for Arts sake LOMBARDI

Aesthetism and Decadence Art for Art’s sake LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

THE GARLANDED BY D. G. ROSSETTI LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

IN AN ARTIST ’S STUDIO BY CRISTINA ROSSETTI LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

• Rossetti’s poem recalls a story of Allan Poe, “The Oval Portrait”, about an artist who decided to paint a portrait of his beloved. • In Caterina ‘s poem we can see an artist alone in his studio surrounded by numerous portraits he has made, all of which reflects the face of his beloved, “not as she is, but as she fills his dream”. • This vision of a woman greatly contrasts with the Victorian image of women. LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

• And though, from a strictly chronological point of view, the Pre. Raphaelites artists- Dante Gabriele e Cristina Rossetti- belonged to the heyday of the Victorian Age, their open revolt against the contemporary values and their research for new source of inspiration, clearly anticipated the Aesthetic Movement of the last decade of the century. LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

The Aesthetic Movement developed: • In the Universities • In the Intellectual Circles BY THE END OF 19 th CENTURY LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

• It reflected the sense of frustration and the uncertainty of the artist against materialism and it re-defined the role of the art. • SO: The artist became a “Bohèmian” that is an artist that expressed his protest against the monotony and vulgarity of bourgeois life leading an unconventional existence • AND: The artist escaped the aesthetic isolation into what the French Goutier defined as: ART FOR ART’S SAKE LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

ART FOR ART’S SAKE was seen as a moral imperative: • Life should be lived in the spirit of art feeling all kind of sensations SO • The artist was seen as the transcriber of his sense of it AND • ART had nothing to do with morality LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

The doctrine was imported into England by WALTER PETAR LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA • He was a scholar at Oxford and became know with his. -“Studies in the history of renaissance” -“Marius the Epicurean”(a study of a young Roman) - He contributed to the YELLOW BOOK: a periodical which reflected the decadent taste - He influenced the writer Oscar Wilde

THE PREFACE OF “THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY” IS CONSIDERED THE MANIFESTO OF THE AESTHETIC MOVEMENT, WHICH EXPRESSES WILDE’S IDEAS ON ART IN GENERAL LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

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Oscar Wilde • Born in Dublin in 1854 • Attended Trinity College and was sent to Oxford where he learned theory of Art’s sake • In 1881 edited the Poems and then married Constance Lloyd • In the 1880’s wrote a series of short stories • The Canterville Ghost • The Happy Prince • The Picture of Dorian Gray LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

His work of art LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

Albert Levin’s film 1945 LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

THE PLOT • Dorian is a beautiful young man, and an artist, Basil decides to paint him on a canvas. In his portrait the signs of age, the experience and vices of Dorian’s life appear. In fact he lives only to persue his own pleasure and became insensitive. Dorian wants to free himself of the portrait and mysteriously kills himself, so the picture returns to its original purity and Dorian’s face becomes withered LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

THE NEW HERO • Dorian is the typical dandy- the term derives from Scottish nickname for Andrew- who thinks: man should live his life, realising his wishes and his dreams because • YOUTH is synonymous with beauty and happines LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

The picture shows: • the dark side of Dorian’s personality which he tries to forget by locking the picture in a room • THE MORAL: is that every excess must be punished and reality cannot be escaped. In fact the picture cold be seen like the symbol of the immorality of the time; Dorian and his pure apparence are symbols of burgeois hypocrisy. • FINALLY THE PICTURE RESTORED TO ITS ORIGINAL BEAUTY TO DEMONSTRATE ART SURVIVE PEOPLE, ART IS ETERNAL LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

In 1890’s he produced a series of plays: • Lady Windermere’s fan • A woman of no importance • Salomè • The importance of being Earnest LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

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The comedy is based on a lie: Jack pretending to be Earnest… • When Earnest was a child he was found in a handbag at Victorian station by a gentleman who adopted him; • He grows up and he often go to London and he falls in love with Gwendolen • While his friend Algernon falls in love with Cecily; • The two stories melt themselves and became complicated, but • The end is happy LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

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Wilde made a new sort of theatre where the problems of his age are reflected through a brilliant satirical tone • In writing this play Wilde aims at inverting the traditional values criticising the hipocrisy and corruption of his own society • With ironic use of a solemn language in situations that are ridicolous and frivolous and with the use of • Imagination: so the laws of reality can be suspended and the characters may change their identities as they wish LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

In 1891: • He met a young man “Bosie” who took him in a homosexual affair • He was sent to prison and he wrote De profundis • He was released and went into exile in France where he died LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA

In conclusion: LOMBARDI GERMANA LENTI MARIA • Wilde adopted the aesthetic ideal; • According to him the elegance was very important, it is a symbol of the superiority of his spirit • Infact he believed only art can save the cult of beauty