Beauty is generally considered old-fashioned by the young and not-so-young bloods of contemporary culture, so an exhibition appealing unashamedly to the aesthetically refined will not seduce the practitioners of sensationalism, bad taste and ever more self-indulgent and feeble art. But it will appeal to a public fed up with the empty, egomaniacal posturings of today’s fashionable art world nonentities, whose every burp and slurp is faithfully reported by a cynical press. At last, you may justifiably say, here is an exhibition to delight the eyes. Assuredly, it’s another of the V&A’s great blockbusters, and as such really too large to take in at one session, but at least it’s full of real art, worth more than a sneer or a puff. Actually, it’s an exhibition (unusually for the V&A) which is nearly all pictures, many of them very good indeed.
All art movements are born out of reaction to some other prevailing orthodoxy, and the Aesthetic Movement was no exception, rebelling against the art and ideas of the Victorian establishment. No longer should art be essentially didactic, seeking to propose and inculcate a habit of good conduct through ‘improving’ narratives; now beauty could be an end in itself, and the slogan ‘art for art’s sake’ became a rallying cry in art schools and salons. For a time, a whole host of disparate artists grouped somewhat uneasily beneath its banner.
The exhibition, sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, comprises more than 250 objects and is broadly chronological, dealing with the last four decades of the 19th century, and laid out in four sections. Ignore these and concentrate on individual exhibits: there is a vast amount to see, so don’t expect to be able to look at everything with the same degree of attention.
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