The Aesthetic Movement: Designing Modernity, 1865–1905

This course examines manifestations of ‘modernity’ in British design, from the Aesthetic Movement of the 1860s to the “New Art” tendencies around 1900, with reference to interior decoration, furniture design, dress, graphics, ceramics and metalwork. Emphasis will be placed on figures such as E.W. Godwin, James McNeill Whistler, Christopher Dresser, Oscar Wilde, and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and their contribution to concepts of modernity in design and ‘artistic’ taste. Theoretical and philosophical debates relating to style, design and dress reform will also be studied through the writings of various nineteenth-century authors. Issues to be addressed include the expression of spirituality, gender relations, and individualism through the design of objects and spaces; the role of the new art and architectural press; modernity and the city; the development of ‘Artistic’ manufactures, galleries and retail outlets; performance and parody; the literature of design reform and household taste; artists’ and collectors’ houses; the aesthetics of Orientalism, internationalism and regionalism. 3 credits.