Writers and artists of the aestheticism movement believe that the mission of art is to provide sensory pleasure for human beings, not to convey some moral or emotional information. Therefore, aesthetes refused to accept the utilitarian view that "art is a practical thing bearing morality" put forward by john ruskin and matthew arnold. On the contrary, aestheticians believe that art should not have any didactic factors, but should pursue pure aesthetic feeling. They are obsessed with the pursuit of "beauty" in art, think that "beauty" is the essence of art, and advocate that life should imitate art, and the formation of aestheticism has a long process. Keats was an English romantic poet and a pioneer of aestheticism in 1930s. He said, "Good things are eternal happiness." Gautier, a French writer, is a writer who transited from romanticism to aestheticism. He opposed the utilitarianism of art, advocated pure art and pursued formal beauty, and put forward the idea of "art for art's sake". Gautier became an advocate of aestheticism.
/kloc-the formation of the British aestheticism movement at the end of 0/9th century has two major factors: one is Bede's hedonism criticism (1839-1894); Second, Morris's artistic life thought (1834- 1896). Bede believes that the responsibility of literary critics is not to master knowledge and list materials to meet the correct definition of beauty, but to have a special temperament and the ability to feel the object of beauty, to closely connect themselves with the contents of books, and to explore pleasure and fun from them, which is the basis of aesthetic criticism. Morris believes that the purpose of transforming society is to stretch freely and make daily life artistic. If no civilized society can provide such an environment for its members, then there is no need for this world to exist. The above viewpoints of Bede and Morris laid the theoretical foundation of aestheticism. Coupled with the efforts of Rossetti (1828- 1882) and Swinburne (1837- 1909), the aestheticism movement was finally formed.
The real representative of aestheticism is Oscar Wilde (1856- 1900), a practitioner of aestheticism creation and an advocate of aestheticism theory. As far as the relationship between art and reality is concerned, Wilde thinks that art should be detached from reality and life. "Real events are the enemies of art. All the disadvantages of art come from real feelings. Nature is understanding, and understanding is not art. "All poor art comes from the description of returning to nature and the objective description of life. Therefore, it is considered that any art of "returning to life and nature" is not good, and the farther away from reality, the better. The only good thing is something that has nothing to do with us. "For the role of art in life, Wilde believes that life is imitated by life, not by art, art is not a mirror of human social life, life is only a student of art, and art is supreme. Some people think that this fundamentally denies the historical materialism that social existence determines social consciousness. Others believe that Wilde did not completely deny that social existence determines social consciousness, but that social consciousness is relatively independent. Social consciousness may change and develop before social existence. As an advanced social consciousness, art has a dynamic reaction to social existence and a positive role in promoting social development.
Starting from the purpose of literary and artistic creation, he preached "art for art's sake". People believe that "art only shows itself." Art has an independent life, just as thought has an independent life. The novel dorian gray is one of Wilde's representative works, and it is also an aestheticism work that aims to explain that "life is an imitation of art, and if art is destroyed, human life will cease to exist". The main characteristics of the aestheticism movement include: pursuing hints rather than statements, pursuing sensory enjoyment, widely using symbolic techniques, and pursuing the relationship between things, that is, exploring the internal relationship between vocabulary, color and music.
It is generally believed that aestheticism comes down in one continuous line with the symbolism or decadence movement that took place in France at that time, and it is a branch of the international literary movement in Britain. This movement is part of the anti-Victorian trend and has the characteristics of post-romanticism.
Aestheticism is sometimes associated with demonism, but it is not necessarily consistent with demonism and decadent art, but perceptual and carried out together with the Renaissance. Sometimes it is combined with mysticism.
Aestheticism has a great influence on China's literary world. In 1930s, Xu Zhimo, a scholar of "Crescent School", once flowed into China, and his poems were obviously aesthetical, which was severely denounced by Lu Xun, a China writer.
Aestheticism was pioneered by romantic poets john keats and Shelley, and also influenced by pre-Raphael school. In Britain, the most outstanding representatives of aestheticism are Oscar Wilde and algernon Charles Swinburne, both of whom are influenced by French symbolism.
Artists related to the aestheticism movement include James McNeil Whistler and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Aestheticism also had an impact on interior design. Aesthetic interior designers like to decorate with peacock feathers and blue and white porcelain. The aestheticism movement was ridiculed by the magazine Clumsy and Gilbert and Sullivan's opera Patience.