Aestheticism Artist. Aestheticism is an intellectual and art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than social-political themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts.
This meant that art from this particular movement focused more on being beautiful rather than having a deeper meaning, art for art's sake. It was particularly prominent in Europe during the 19th century, supported by notable figures such as Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde, but contemporary critics are also associated with the movement, such as Harold Bloom, who has recently argued against projecting social and political ideology onto literary works, which he believes has been a growing problem in humanities departments over the 20th century.
In the 19th century, it was related to other movements such as symbolism or decadence represented in France, or decadentismo represented in Italy, and may be considered the British version of the same style. The British decadent writers were much influenced by the Oxford professor Walter Pater and his essays published during 1867-68, in which he stated that life had to be lived intensely, with an ideal of beauty.
His text Studies in the History of the Renaissance was very well regarded by art-oriented young men of the late 19th century. Writers of the Decadent movement used the slogan Art for Art's Sake, the origin of which is debated.
Some claim that it was invented by t