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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Aesthetic Movement
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The conscious attempt by certain British writers and artists in the late 19C to live and dress in a manner which would set them apart from the practical and material concerns of Victorian England, and above all to create 'art for art's sake'. The phrase, which became the slogan of the movement, had been current since the beginning of the century in the more pithy French version l'art pour l'art. It meant that art should have no aim other than the creation of beauty, and above all no moral purpose.
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While *Swinburne and Walter Pater contributed greatly to the movement as writers, and Dante Gabriel *Rossetti and *Burne-Jones as painters, the highest profiles were maintained by *Whistler and *Wilde; both were present in 1877 at the opening of the *Grosvenor Gallery. The aesthetes were satirized by W.S. Gilbert in *Patience. Their ideas were closely related to the *Arts and Crafts Movement and to *Art Nouveau.
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