Rachel
As a combination of Realism and Romanticism, the rise of Aestheticism provided the American people with a focus on the simplicity of beauty, often of the human form. A result of the violence of the Civil War, Aestheticism aimed to create a softness of reality which, as many of the figures present in Aesthetic paintings were women, mimicked the care of a mother. During this era, many artists “consciously shifted the language of their written and pictorial discourses to substitute beauty for [the] emphasis on truth, art for nature, and aesthetics for morality” (Pohl), producing a uniquely distinct movement, one which carried only the ideal of pleasing the human eye as its motto.
One of the first American Aesthetic painters was James McNeill Whistler who famously “wrote that art should . . . stand alone and appeal to the artistic sense of ear or eye, without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it” (Pohl). Whistler’s view of “art for art’s sake” is evident in his painting Symphony in White No 1: The White Girl completed in 1862. Visually insignificant as compared to the dramatic colors and landscapes of Romanticism and Realism, the girl in this portrait carries no primary significance other than her stiff posture and almost bored expression, proof that the artist only captured her on canvas to give her a sense of permanence in the world of art. The fluid and almost frantic brush strokes provide this painting with a continuous movement, as though the girl could walk right out of the frame at any moment. The softness of Romanticism appears strongly in this piece, but the Aesthetic aspect dominates as an almost ethereal glow surrounds the girl, a signal of her idyllic beauty. As a tribute to nature, the lily in the subject’s hand as well as the group of flowers on the bear rug convey the emotion of exhaustion, as though landscapes and details of nature have been overdone, and that the beauty of humans should be examined now instead.
In part, Aestheticism strove to display women as beings of the world, kind yet entirely necessary. This artistic movement was not restricted to paintings and one of the most moving pieces from this period was William B. Post’s Summer Days photographed in 1895. Almost mistaken for a painting, the softness of this image traces back to Romanticism, but the idealization of the subject once again brings about Aestheticism. While the woman is not strikingly beautiful, her simple actions carry that connotation of grace and elegance for her; the innocent act of reaching for a flower conveys both a delicate notion of the nature of women as well as the inherent curiosity of mankind. The serenity of Post’s photograph serves as a reprieve from the bustling status of America at the end of the 19th century as if to convey the notion that devotion to beauty and delight from slight actions such as reaching for a flower is much more satisfying than participating in the politically and economically driven industrial world.
Works Cited
Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
Post, William B. Summer Days. 1895. Photograph. George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
Whistler, James McNeill. Symphony in White No. 1: The White Girl. 1862. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
As a combination of Realism and Romanticism, the rise of Aestheticism provided the American people with a focus on the simplicity of beauty, often of the human form. A result of the violence of the Civil War, Aestheticism aimed to create a softness of reality which, as many of the figures present in Aesthetic paintings were women, mimicked the care of a mother. During this era, many artists “consciously shifted the language of their written and pictorial discourses to substitute beauty for [the] emphasis on truth, art for nature, and aesthetics for morality” (Pohl), producing a uniquely distinct movement, one which carried only the ideal of pleasing the human eye as its motto.
One of the first American Aesthetic painters was James McNeill Whistler who famously “wrote that art should . . . stand alone and appeal to the artistic sense of ear or eye, without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it” (Pohl). Whistler’s view of “art for art’s sake” is evident in his painting Symphony in White No 1: The White Girl completed in 1862. Visually insignificant as compared to the dramatic colors and landscapes of Romanticism and Realism, the girl in this portrait carries no primary significance other than her stiff posture and almost bored expression, proof that the artist only captured her on canvas to give her a sense of permanence in the world of art. The fluid and almost frantic brush strokes provide this painting with a continuous movement, as though the girl could walk right out of the frame at any moment. The softness of Romanticism appears strongly in this piece, but the Aesthetic aspect dominates as an almost ethereal glow surrounds the girl, a signal of her idyllic beauty. As a tribute to nature, the lily in the subject’s hand as well as the group of flowers on the bear rug convey the emotion of exhaustion, as though landscapes and details of nature have been overdone, and that the beauty of humans should be examined now instead.
In part, Aestheticism strove to display women as beings of the world, kind yet entirely necessary. This artistic movement was not restricted to paintings and one of the most moving pieces from this period was William B. Post’s Summer Days photographed in 1895. Almost mistaken for a painting, the softness of this image traces back to Romanticism, but the idealization of the subject once again brings about Aestheticism. While the woman is not strikingly beautiful, her simple actions carry that connotation of grace and elegance for her; the innocent act of reaching for a flower conveys both a delicate notion of the nature of women as well as the inherent curiosity of mankind. The serenity of Post’s photograph serves as a reprieve from the bustling status of America at the end of the 19th century as if to convey the notion that devotion to beauty and delight from slight actions such as reaching for a flower is much more satisfying than participating in the politically and economically driven industrial world.
Works Cited
Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
Post, William B. Summer Days. 1895. Photograph. George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
Whistler, James McNeill. Symphony in White No. 1: The White Girl. 1862. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002.