Leader of the aesthetic movement. William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement: A "Renaissance" for the Arts and Crafts

Pre-Raphaelitism (English: Pre-Raphaelitism) is a movement in English poetry and painting in the second half of the 19th century, formed in the early 50s with the aim of fighting against the conventions of the Victorian era, academic traditions and blind imitation of classical models.
The name “Pre-Raphaelites” was supposed to denote a spiritual relationship with the Florentine artists of the early Renaissance, that is, the artists “before Raphael” and Michelangelo: Perugino, Fra Angelico, Giovanni Bellini.
The most prominent members of the Pre-Raphaelite movement were the poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the painters William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris, Arthur Hughes, Walter Crane, and John William Waterhouse.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

The first stage in the development of Pre-Raphaelitism was the emergence of the so-called “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood”, which initially consisted of seven “brothers”: J. E. Millais, Holman Hunt (1827-1910), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his younger brother Michael Rossetti, Thomas Woolner and the painters Stevens and James Collinson.
The history of the Brotherhood begins in 1848, when Academy students Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who had previously seen and admired Hunt’s work, met at an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. Hunt helps Rossetti finish the painting "The Youth of the Virgin Mary"(English: Girlhood of Mary Virgin, 1848-49), which was exhibited in 1849, and he also introduces Rossetti to John Everett Millais, a young genius who entered the Academy at the age of 11.

They not only became friends, but found that they shared each other's views on modern art: in particular, they believed that modern English painting had reached a dead end and was dying, and in the best possible way to revive it will be a return to the sincerity and simplicity of early Italian art (that is, art before Raphael, whom the Pre-Raphaelites considered the founder of academicism).
This is how the idea of creating a secret society called the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was born - a society in opposition to official artistic movements. Also invited to the group from the very beginning were James Collinson (a student at the Academy and the fiancé of Christina Rossetti), the sculptor and poet Thomas Woolner, the young nineteen-year-old artist and later critic Frederick Stephens and younger brother Rossetti William Michael Rossetti, who, following in the footsteps of his older brother, entered art school, but did not show a special vocation for art and, in the end, became a famous art critic and writer. Madox Brown was close to the German Nazarenes, so he, sharing the ideas of the Brotherhood, refused to join the group.
In Rossetti’s painting “The Youth of the Virgin Mary” the three conventional letters P.R.B. (Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) appear for the first time; the same initials marked “Isabella” by Milles and “Rienzi” by Hunt. Members of the Brotherhood also created their own magazine, called Rostock, although it only existed from January to April 1850. Its editor was William Michael Rossetti (brother of Dante Gabriel Rossetti).

Pre-Raphaelites and Academicism

Before the advent of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the development of British art was determined mainly by the activities of the Royal Academy of Arts. Like any other official institution, it was very jealous and cautious about innovations, [preserving the traditions of academicism. Hunt, Millais and Rossetti stated in the Rostock magazine that they did not want to depict people and nature as abstractly beautiful, and events as far from reality, and, finally, they were tired of the convention of official, “exemplary” mythological, historical and religious works.
The Pre-Raphaelites abandoned academic principles of work and believed that everything should be painted from life. They chose friends or relatives as models. For example, in the painting “The Youth of the Virgin Mary,” Rossetti depicted his mother and sister Christina, and looking at the canvas “Isabella,” contemporaries recognized Milles’s friends and acquaintances from the Brotherhood. During the creation of the painting “Ophelia,” he forced Elizabeth Siddal to lie in a filled bath for several hours. It was winter, so Siddal caught a serious cold and later sent Millais a doctors bill for £50. Moreover, the Pre-Raphaelites changed the relationship between artist and model - they became equal partners. If the heroes of Reynolds's paintings are almost always dressed according to their social status, then Rossetti could paint a queen from a saleswoman, a goddess from a groom's daughter. Prostitute Fanny Cornforth posed for him for the painting Lady Lilith.
Members of the Brotherhood were from the outset irritated by the influence on modern art of artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, David Wilkie and Benjamin Haydon. They even nicknamed Sir Joshua (president of the Academy of Arts) “Sir Sloshua” (from the English slosh - “slap in the mud”) for his sloppy painting technique and style, as they believed, completely borrowed from academic mannerism. The situation was aggravated by the fact that at that time artists often used bitumen, and it makes the image cloudy and dark. In contrast, the Pre-Raphaelites wanted to return to the high detail and deep colors of the Quattrocento era painters. They abandoned “cabinet” painting and began to paint in nature, and also made changes to the traditional painting technique. The Pre-Raphaelites outlined a composition on a primed canvas, applied a layer of whitewash and removed the oil from it with blotting paper, and then wrote on top of the whitewash with translucent paints. The chosen technique allowed them to achieve bright, fresh tones and turned out to be so durable that their works have been preserved in their original form to this day.

Dealing with criticism

At first, the work of the Pre-Raphaelites was received quite warmly, but soon severe criticism and ridicule fell. Millais's overly naturalistic painting "Christ in the Parental House", exhibited in 1850, caused such a wave of indignation that Queen Victoria asked to be taken to Buckingham Palace for independent inspection.
Rossetti's painting also caused attacks from public opinion. "Annunciation", made with deviations from the Christian canon.

At an exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1850, Rossetti, Hunt and Millais were unable to sell a single painting. In a review published in the weekly Athenaeum, critic Frank Stone wrote:
“Ignoring all the great things that were created by the old masters, this school, to which Rossetti belongs, trudges with uncertain steps towards its early predecessors. This is archeology, devoid of any usefulness and turned into doctrinaire. People belonging to this school claim that they follow the truth and simplicity of nature. In fact, they slavishly imitate artistic ineptitude.”
The principles of the Brotherhood were criticized by many respected artists: the president of the Academy of Arts, Charles Eastlake, and the group of artists "The Clique", led by Richard Dadd. As a result, James Collinson even renounced the Brotherhood, and his engagement to Christina Rossetti was broken off. His place was subsequently taken by the painter Walter Deverell.
The situation was saved to a certain extent by John Ruskin, an influential art historian and art critic in England. Despite the fact that in 1850 he was only thirty-two years old, he was already the author of widely known works on art. In several articles published in The Times, Ruskin gave the works of the Pre-Raphaelites a flattering assessment, emphasizing that he did not personally know anyone from the Brotherhood. He proclaimed that their work could "form the basis of a school of art greater than anything the world has known for the previous 300 years." In addition, Ruskin bought many of Gabriel Rossetti's paintings, which supported him financially, and took Millais under his wing , in whom I immediately saw outstanding talent.

John Ruskin and his influence

The English critic John Ruskin put in order the ideas of the Pre-Raphaelites regarding art, formalizing them into a logical system. Among his works, the most famous are “Fiction: Fair and Foul”, “The Art of England”, “Modern Painters”. He is also the author of the article “Pre-Raphaelitism”, published in 1851.
“Today’s artists,” wrote Ruskin in “Modern Artists,” “depict [nature] either too superficially or too embellished; they do not try to penetrate into [its] essence.” As an ideal, Ruskin put forward medieval art, such masters of the Early Renaissance as Perugino, Fra Angelico, Giovanni Bellini, and encouraged artists to “paint with with a pure heart, not focusing on anything, not choosing anything and not neglecting anything.” Similarly, Madox Brown, who influenced the Pre-Raphaelites, wrote of his painting The Last of England (1855): “I have tried to forget all existing artistic movements and to reflect this scene as it should have been.” look". Madox Brown specially painted this picture on the coast in order to achieve the effect of “lighting from all sides” that happens at sea in cloudy days. The Pre-Raphaelite technique of painting involved the elaboration of every detail.
Ruskin also proclaimed the “principle of fidelity to Nature”: “Is it not because we love our creations more than His, that we value colored glass rather than bright clouds... And, making fonts and erecting columns in honor of Him... we imagine , that we will be forgiven for our shameful neglect of the hills and streams with which He has endowed our abode - the earth." Thus, art was supposed to contribute to the revival of spirituality in man, moral purity and religiosity, which also became the goal of the Pre-Raphaelites.
Ruskin has a clear definition of the artistic goals of Pre-Raphaelitism:
It is easy to control the brush and paint herbs and plants with enough fidelity to the eye; Anyone can achieve this after several years of work. But to depict among the herbs and plants the secrets of creation and combinations with which nature speaks to our understanding, to convey the gentle curve and wavy shadow of the loosened earth, to find in everything that seems the smallest, a manifestation of the eternal divine new creation of beauty and greatness, to show this to the unthinking and unseeing - such is artist's appointment.
Ruskin's ideas deeply touched the Pre-Raphaelites, especially William Holman Hunt, who infected Millais and Rossetti with his enthusiasm. In 1847, Hunt wrote of Ruskin's Modern Artists: "I felt, like no other reader, that the book was written especially for me." In defining his approach to his work, Hunt also noted that it was important for him to start from the subject, “not just because there is a charm to the completeness of the subject, but in order to understand the principles of design that exist in Nature.”

Decay

After Pre-Raphaelitism received the support of Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelites were recognized and loved, they were given the right of “citizenship” in art, they came into fashion and received a more favorable reception at the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, and enjoyed success at the World Exhibition of 1855 in Paris.
In addition to the already mentioned Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes (best known for the painting “April Love”, 1855-1856), Henry Wallis, Robert Braithwaite Martineau, William Windus also became interested in the Pre-Raphaelite style ) and others.
However, the Brotherhood disintegrates. Apart from a youthful revolutionary romantic spirit and a fascination with the Middle Ages, little united these people, and of the early Pre-Raphaelites only Holman Hunt remained faithful to the doctrine of the Brotherhood. When Millais became a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1853, Rossetti declared this event the end of the Brotherhood. “The round table is now dissolved,” Rossetti concludes. Gradually the remaining members also leave. Holman Hunt, for example, went to the Middle East, Rossetti himself, instead of landscapes or religious themes, became interested in literature and created many works on Shakespeare and Dante.
Attempts to revive the Brotherhood as the Hogarth Club, which existed from 1858 to 1861, failed.

Further development of Pre-Raphaelitism

In 1856, Rossetti met with William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Burne-Jones was delighted with Rossetti's painting "First Anniversary of Beatrice's Death"(English: The First Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice), and subsequently he and Morris asked to become his students.

Burne-Jones spent whole days in Rossetti's studio, and Morris joined on weekends. Thus begins a new stage in the development of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, the main idea of which is aestheticism, stylization of forms, eroticism, the cult of beauty and artistic genius. All these features are inherent in the work of Rossetti, who was initially the leader of the movement. As artist Val Princep later wrote, Rossetti “was the planet around which we revolved. We even copied his manner of speaking.” However, Rossetti's health (including mental health) is deteriorating, and Edward Burne-Jones, whose works are made in the style of the early Pre-Raphaelites, gradually takes over the leadership. He became extremely popular and had a great influence on such painters as William Waterhouse, Byam Shaw, Cadogan Cooper, and his influence is also noticeable in the works of Aubrey Beardsley and other illustrators of the 1890s. In 1889, at the World Exhibition in Paris, he received the Order of the Legion of Honor for the painting “King Cofetua and the Beggar Woman.”
Among the late Pre-Raphaelites, one can also highlight such painters as Simeon Solomon and Evelyn de Morgan, as well as illustrators Henry Ford and Evelyn Paul.

"Arts and Crafts"

Pre-Raphaelitism at this time penetrated into all aspects of life: furniture, decorative arts, architecture, interior decoration, book design, illustrations.
William Morris is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the decorative arts of the 19th century. He founded the “Arts and Crafts Movement” - “Arts and Crafts”), the main idea of which was a return to manual craftsmanship as the ideal of applied art, as well as the elevation to the rank of full-fledged arts of printing, foundry, and engraving. This movement, which was taken up by Walter Crane, Mackintosh, Nelson Dawson, Edwin Lutyens, Wright and others, subsequently manifested itself in English and American architecture, interior design, and landscape design.

Poetry

Most of the Pre-Raphaelites were engaged in poetry, but, according to many critics, it has value precisely late period development of Pre-Raphaelitism. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his sister Christina Rossetti, George Meredith, William Morris and Algernon Swinburne left a significant mark on English literature, but the greatest contribution was made by Rossetti, captivated by the poems of the Italian Renaissance and especially the works of Dante. Rossetti's main lyrical achievement is considered to be the cycle of sonnets “The House of Life”. Christina Rossetti was also a famous poet. Rossetti's beloved Elizabeth Siddal also studied poetry, whose works remained unpublished during her lifetime. William Morris was not only a recognized master of stained glass, but also was active in literary activity, including writing many poems. His first collection, The Defense of Guinevere and Other Poems, was published in 1858, when the author was 24 years old.
Under the influence of Pre-Raphaelite poetry, British decadence developed in the 1980s: Ernst Dawson, Lionel Johnson, Michael Field, Oscar Wilde. A romantic longing for the Middle Ages was reflected in Yeats's early work.
The famous poet Algernon Swinburne, famous for his bold experiments in versification, was also a playwright and literary critic. Swinburne dedicated his first drama, The Queen Mother and Rosamond, written in 1860, to Rossetti, with whom he was associated friendly relations. However, although Swinburne declared his commitment to the principles of Pre-Raphaelism, he certainly goes beyond this direction.

Publishing activities

In 1890, William Morris founded the Kelmscott Press, where he published several books with Burne-Jones. This period is called the culmination of the life of William Morris. Based on the traditions of medieval scribes, Morris, as well as the English graphic artist William Blake, tried to find a unified style for the design of the book page, its title page and binding. Morris's best edition was The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer; the fields are decorated with climbing plants, the text is enlivened by miniature headpieces and ornamented capital letters. As Duncan Robinson wrote,
To the modern reader, accustomed to the simple and functional typefaces of the 20th century, Kelmscott Press editions seem like luxurious creations of the Victorian era. Rich ornamentation, patterns in the form of leaves, illustrations on wood - all this became the most important examples of decorative art of the 19th century; all made by the hands of a man who has contributed more to this field than anyone else.
Morris designed all 66 books published by the publisher, and Burne-Jones did most of the illustrations. The publishing house existed until 1898 and had a strong influence on many illustrators of the late 19th century, in particular Aubrey Beardsley.

Aesthetic movement

At the end of the 50s, when the paths of Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites diverged, there was a need for new aesthetic ideas and new theorists to shape these ideas. The art historian and literary critic Walter Horatio Pater became such a theorist. Walter Pater believed that the main thing in art is the immediacy of individual perception, therefore art should cultivate every moment of experiencing life: “Art gives us nothing but awareness of the highest value of each passing moment and the preservation of all of them.” To a large extent, through Pater, the ideas of “art for art’s sake,” drawn from Theophile Gautier, Charles Baudelaire, are transformed into the concept of aestheticism (English Aesthetic movement), which becomes widespread among English artists and poets: Whistler, Swinburne, Rosseti, Wilde. Oscar Wilde also had a strong influence on the development of the aesthetic movement (including the later work of Rossetti), being personally acquainted with both Holman Hunt and Burne-Jones. He, like many of his peers, read books by Pater and Ruskin, and Wilde’s aestheticism largely grew out of Pre-Raphaelitism, which carried a charge of sharp criticism of modern society from the standpoint of beauty. Oscar Wilde wrote that “aesthetics is above criticism,” which considers art the highest reality, and life a kind of fiction: “I write because writing is the highest artistic pleasure for me. If my work is liked by a select few, I'm happy about it. If not, I’m not upset.” The Pre-Raphaelites were also keen on Keats's poetry and fully accepted his aesthetic formula that “beauty is the only truth.”

Subjects

At first, the Pre-Raphaelites preferred gospel subjects, and avoided church character in painting and interpreted the gospel symbolically, attaching special importance not to the historical fidelity of the depicted gospel episodes, but to their internal philosophical meaning. So, for example, in "Light of the World" Khanta in the form of the Savior with a bright lamp in his hands depicts the mysterious divine light of faith, striving to penetrate closed human hearts like Christ knocking on the door of a human home.

The Pre-Raphaelites draw attention to the theme of social inequality in the Victorian era, emigration (the works of Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes), the degraded position of women (Rossetti), Holman Hunt even touched on the topic of prostitution in his painting "Woke Shyness"(English: The Awakening Conscience, 1853).

In the picture we see a fallen woman who suddenly realized that she was sinning, and, forgetting about her lover, frees herself from his embrace, as if hearing some call through an open window. The man does not understand her spiritual impulses and continues to play the piano. Here the Pre-Raphaelites were not pioneers; they were anticipated by Richard Redgrave with his famous painting The Governess (1844). And later, in the 40s, Redgrave created many similar works dedicated to the exploitation of women.
The Pre-Raphaelites also dealt with historical topics, achieving the greatest accuracy in depicting factual details; turned to works of classical poetry and literature, to the works of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, John Keats. They idealized the Middle Ages and loved medieval romance and mysticism.
The Pre-Raphaelites created a new type of fine art female beauty- detached, calm, mysterious, which would later be developed by Art Nouveau artists. Woman in Pre-Raphaelite paintings - medieval image perfect beauty and femininity, she is admired and worshiped. This is especially noticeable in Rossetti, who admired beauty and mystery, as well as in Arthur Hughes, Millais, and Burne-Jones. Mystical, destructive beauty, la femme fatale, later found expression in William Waterhouse. In this regard, the painting “The Lady of Shalott” (1888), which still remains one of the most popular exhibits at the Tate Gallery, can be called iconic]. It is based on a poem by Alfred Tennyson. Many painters (Holman Hunt, Rossetti) illustrated Tennyson’s works, in particular “The Lady of Shalott”. The story tells of a girl who must remain in a tower, isolated from the outside world, and at the very moment she decides to escape, she signs her own death warrant.
Image tragic love was attractive to the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers: in late XIX-at the beginning of the 20th century, more than fifty paintings were created on the theme of “The Lady of Shalott”, and the title of the poem turned into a phraseological unit. The Pre-Raphaelites were particularly attracted to themes such as spiritual purity and tragic love, unrequited love, the unattainable girl, a woman dying for love, marked by shame or damnation, and a dead woman of extraordinary beauty.
The Victorian concept of femininity was redefined. For example, in Ophelia by Arthur Hughes or the series of paintings Past and Present, 1837-1860 by Augustus Egg, a woman is shown as a person capable of experiencing sexual desire and passion, often leading to an untimely death. Augustus Egg created a series of works that show how the family hearth is destroyed after the mother's adultery was discovered. In the first painting, a woman lies on the floor, her face buried in the carpet, in a pose of complete despair, and the bracelets on her hands resemble handcuffs. Dante Gabriel Rossetti uses the figure Proserpina from ancient Greek and Roman mythology: a young woman stolen by Pluto into the underworld and desperate to return to earth.

She eats only a few pomegranate seeds, but a small piece of food is enough for a person to remain forever in the underworld. Proserpina Rossetti - not just beautiful woman with a thoughtful look. She is very feminine and sensual, and the pomegranate in her hands is a symbol of passion and temptation to which she succumbed.
One of the main themes in the works of the Pre-Raphaelites is a seduced woman, destroyed by unrequited love, betrayed by her lovers, a victim of tragic love. In most paintings, there is a man, either explicitly or implicitly, who is responsible for the woman's downfall. Examples include Hunt’s “Woke Shyness” or Millais’ painting “Mariana.”
A similar theme can be seen in poetry: in “The Defense of Guenevere” by William Morris, in Christina Rossetti’s poem “Light Love” (English: Light Love, 1856), in Rossetti’s poem “Jenny” (1870), which shows a fallen woman, a prostitute, who is completely untroubled by her situation and even enjoys sexual freedom.

Scenery

Holman Hunt, Milles, Madox Brown designed the landscape. The painters William Dyce, Thomas Seddon, and John Brett also enjoyed some fame. Landscape painters of this school are especially famous for their depiction of clouds, inherited from their famous predecessor, William Turner. They tried to depict the landscape with maximum authenticity. Hunt expressed his thoughts this way: “I want to paint a landscape... depicting every detail that I can see.” And about Millais's painting "Autumn Leaves" Ruskin said: “This is the first time that twilight has been depicted so perfectly.”

The painters made meticulous sketches of tones from nature, reproducing them as brightly and clearly as possible. This microscopic work required enormous patience and labor; in their letters or diaries, the Pre-Raphaelites complained about the need to stand for hours in the hot sun, rain, and wind in order to paint, sometimes, a very small section of the picture. For these reasons, the Pre-Raphaelite landscape did not become widespread, and then it was replaced by impressionism.

Photographic art

Ruskin also wrote, admiring the daguerreotypes: “It was as if a magician had shrunk the object... so that it could be carried away with him.” And when albumen photographic paper was invented in 1850, the photography process became easier and more accessible.
The Pre-Raphaelites made great contributions to the development of photography, for example, using photographs during painting. In the photographs of the Pre-Raphaelites we see the same attention to the literary concept of the work, the same attempts to display inner world models (which was an almost impossible task for photography of those years), the same compositional features: two-dimensionality of space, concentration on the character, love for detail. [Photographs of Jane Morris taken by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in July 1865 are especially famous.
Many famous photographers subsequently were inspired by Pre-Raphaelite creativity: such as, for example, Henry Peach Robinson.

Lifestyle

Pre-Raphaelitism is a cultural style that penetrated the lives of its creators and, to some extent, determined this life. The Pre-Raphaelites lived in the environment they created and made such an environment extremely fashionable. As Andrea Rose notes in her book, at the end of the 19th century, “fidelity to nature gives way to fidelity to image. The image becomes recognizable and therefore quite ready for the market.”
American writer Henry James, in a letter dated March 1969, told his sister Alice about his visit to the Morrises.
“Yesterday, my dear sister,” writes James, “was a kind of apotheosis for me, for I spent the greater part of it at the house of Mr. W. Morris, the poet. Morris lives in the same house where he opened his shop, in Bloomsbury... You see, poetry is a secondary occupation for Morris. First of all, he is a manufacturer of stained glass, faience tiles, medieval tapestries and church embroidery - in general, everything Pre-Raphaelite, antique, unusual and, I must add, incomparable. Of course, all this is done on a modest scale and can be done at home. The things he makes are extraordinarily elegant, precious and expensive (they surpass the price of the greatest luxury items), and because his factory cannot have too much of great importance. But everything he has created is amazing and excellent... he also has the help of his wife and little daughters.”
Henry James goes on to describe William Morris's wife, Jane Morris (nee Jane Burden), who later became Rossetti's lover and model and can often be seen in the artist's paintings:
“Oh, my dear, what a woman this is! She is beautiful in everything. Imagine a tall, thin woman, long dress made of fabric the color of a muted purple, made of natural material down to the last lace, with a shock of curly black hair falling in large waves along the temples, a small and pale face, large dark eyes, deep and quite Swinburnean, with thick black arched eyebrows... A high, open neck in pearls, and in the end - perfection itself. On the wall hung an almost life-size portrait of her by Rossetti, so strange and unreal that if you had seen it, you would have taken it for a painful vision, but of extraordinary similarity and fidelity to the features. After dinner... Morris read us one of his unpublished poems... and his wife, suffering from toothache, rested on the sofa, with a scarf over her face. It seemed to me that there was something fantastic and removed from our real life in this scene: Morris, reading in a smooth antique meter a legend of miracles and horrors (it was the story of Bellerophon), around us the picturesque second-hand furniture of the apartment (each item is an example of something... or), and, in the corner, this gloomy woman, silent and medieval with her medieval toothache.”
The Pre-Raphaelites were surrounded by women of different social status, lovers, and models. One journalist writes about them this way: “... women without crinolines, with flowing hair... unusual, like a fever dream in which magnificent and fantastic images slowly move.”
Dante Gabriel Rossetti lived in a refined and bohemian atmosphere, and his eccentric image itself became part of the Pre-Raphaelite legend: Rossetti lived with the most different people, including poet Algernon Swinburne, writer George Meredith. Models succeeded one another, some of them became Rossetti's mistresses, the vulgar and stingy Fanny Cornforth was especially famous. Rossetti's house was full of antiques, antique furniture, Chinese porcelain and other trinkets, which he bought from junk shops. In the garden there were owls, wombats, kangaroos, parrots, peacocks, and at one time there even lived a bull whose eyes reminded Rossetti of the eyes of his beloved Jane Morris.

The meaning of Pre-Raphaelitism

Pre-Raphaelitism as an artistic movement is widely known and popular in Great Britain. It is also called the first British movement to achieve world fame, however, among researchers, its significance is assessed differently: from a revolution in art to pure innovation in painting techniques. There is an opinion that the movement began with an attempt to update painting, and subsequently had a great influence on the development of literature and the entire English culture as a whole. According to the Literary Encyclopedia, due to its refined aristocracy, retrospectivity and contemplation, their work had little impact on the broad masses.
Despite the apparent focus on the past, the Pre-Raphaelites contributed to the establishment of the Art Nouveau style in the fine arts; moreover, they are considered the predecessors of the Symbolists, sometimes even identifying both. For example, that the exhibition "Symbolism in Europe", which moved from November 1975 to July 1976 from Rotterdam through Brussels and Baden-Baden to Paris, took 1848 as the starting date - the year of the founding of the Brotherhood. Pre-Raphaelite poetry left its mark on the French symbolists Verlaine and Mallarmé, and painting on artists such as Aubrey Beardsley, Waterhouse, and lesser known ones such as Edward Hughes or Calderon. Some even note the influence of Pre-Raphaelite painting on English hippies, and Burne-Jones on the young Tolkien. Interestingly, in his youth, Tolkien, who together with his friends organized a semi-secret society called the Tea Club, compared them to the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.
In Russia, the first exhibition of works by the Pre-Raphaelites, organized auction house Christie's took place from May 14 to 18, 2008 at the Tretyakov Gallery.

In Europe, the beginning of the 19th century was marked by the industrial revolution gaining comprehensive proportions. There was a transition from manual labor to machine labor, a transformation of society into an industrial one, and a rapid process of urbanization. All these phenomena were accompanied by rapid economic growth and an increase in living standards.

Along with positive changes, negative metamorphoses also occurred. In particular, the decorative and applied arts acutely felt the negative impact. The original creativity of artisans was replaced by mass consumer goods in the everyday life of Europeans. The Arts and Crafts movement was born as a counteraction to the faceless things that fill everyday life and everyday life.

The origins and ideology of the Arts and Crafts movement

Absolute recognition of the superiority of handmade products over the product of factory machine stamping forms the basis of the Arts and Crafts movement. It originates from a small community of like-minded people. The concept of the emerging artistic movement is based on the creation of an aesthetic environment in everyday life and human life. In this regard, his goal is to revive the decorative and applied arts. As part of the Arts and Crafts movement, separate craft workshops and guilds are being formed almost throughout Europe.

The artistic movement is supported by the traditions of medieval craftsmanship and the original creativity of the masters of that period. The movement is reflected in objects from all areas of decorative and applied art. Its participating artists create unique wallpaper and furniture, original products in the field of weaving and tapestry weaving, stained glass and ceramic decor. Preference is given to natural motifs, laconic forms and purity of colors.

Oak room with tiled fireplace designed by William Morris, Whitewick Manor, England

The ideology takes on real features in a London mansion called the “Red House”. The construction itself and the entire furnishings of the house are made in accordance with the principles of the artistic movement, aimed at merging everyday life with high art. The Red House belonged to the founder of the Arts and Crafts movement, English writer, artist, designer, politician and philosopher, William Morris, and was intended for his family and his arts and crafts company.

Interior of a hall in the Red House with furniture, wallpaper and handmade ceramic tiles, London

Stained glass in the Red House, London

William Maurice as the mastermind of the Arts and Crafts movement and creator

The creative development of Morris the master begins with studying architecture from George Edmund Street, who had a very famous name in this field during this period. But painting absorbs the artist and soon becomes his main manifestation. creative potential. William Morris's path to art was led by his acquaintance with the works of the Pre-Raphaelites. Admiration for the movement, which rejected the conventions and academicism of English poetry and painting, gave rise to William Morris's special view of aesthetics and artistry.

William Morris takes the path of reviving the harmony of nature, man and art, relying on the philosophical treatises of John Ruskin. The art critic’s assertion that the objects surrounding a society testify to its moral state prompted Morris to heal a generation “crippled” in this regard by the Industrial Revolution. In his opinion, the only tool for this could be craftsmanship, which filled the everyday environment with beautiful handmade objects. Therefore, the artist’s painting is transferred from canvases to the interior: to ceramics, fabrics, wood, metal and other materials.

Painted ceramic tiles designed by William Morris, 1875.

William Morris elevated the combined image of a technologist, designer and artist, which he himself in fact was, to the high rank of creator. William Morris becomes the first modern concept designer in England. The master draws sketches of prints, drawing inspiration from nature, transfers ornaments to wallpaper, tapestries, furniture, ceramic tiles, stained glass and even books, combining everything into complete interiors. To create his creations, William Morris works closely with Philip Speakman Webb, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal, Edward Burne-Jones and other artists and architects of the time.

Drawing room by William Morris, Thomas Carlyle House, London

In 1861, William Morris founded the company Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. to produce interior and decoration items. For almost a century, the company has maintained its status as Europe's leading manufactory in the field of decorative and applied arts. Manual labor, natural materials, natural composition become the three pillars on which the company’s production process rests. In addition, the company serves as a kind of school for artists and craftsmen. This contributes to the spread of the ideas of the Arts and Crafts movement and the creation of new creative associations under the leadership of Morris's followers, including in other countries.

The influence of the Arts and Crafts movement on ceramic art

By this time, ceramics in Europe was experiencing decline. Porcelain, which ascended to the pedestal, almost completely absorbed the most ancient technologies for creating clay products. Decorative ceramic cladding is fading into oblivion, and unique handmade household items are being replaced by faceless stamped porcelain and earthenware. In one way, the products receive colorful decor, parting with the previously highly valued whiteness and fragility. The deep connection and harmony of material and form, essence and artistic image are lost.

William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement revived the value of handmade ceramics. Natural material meets all the requirements of the creative movement and finds a second life in its most highly artistic embodiment in English houses. In the interiors of the artist and designer, tiles on fireplaces and decoration, ceramic decor and hand-painted dishes are again appearing. Most of the decorative pottery for William Morris projects is done by William Friend de Morgan.

Ceramic decor and vases in the interior by William Morris

Undoubtedly, handmade items had a high cost, so such luxury was not available to everyone. In this regard, the idea of creating an aesthetically designed living environment for each person contradicted the views of William Morris himself as a socialist. But despite this, a small community of artists grew into the Arts and Crafts movement, which spread not only in England, but throughout almost all of Europe and the USA.

The Arts and Crafts movement first of all gave the world a theory about the close relationship between aesthetic standards and the moral state of society. Handmade household items still occupy an important place in interior design today and are highly valued for their individuality and uniqueness. The Arts and Crafts movement was a powerful impetus for the emergence of the Art Nouveau style and served as the basis for the formation of design principles. In addition, the movement contributed to the revival of national styles due to increased prestige and approval high status handicrafts.

Arts and Crafts - “Arts and crafts”. This artistic movement emerged in England in the 1860s as a reaction to the era of industrialization and the Industrial Revolution. It included artists, designers, architects, craftsmen and writers. The inspirer of the movement and its unofficial leader was William Morris, in which a romantic artist and a businessman, a dreamer and a politician coexisted. Morris's powerful charisma injected vital energy into the entire Arts and Crafts movement.

The main thing that members rebelled against Arts and Crafts- this is soulless machine production that deprives the worker of the joy of his work. Clumsy, tasteless things came off the assembly line with which people filled their homes - furniture, fabrics, dishes. Industrialization brought with it a general decline in artistic taste, when beauty and harmony were replaced by “prettiness.”

The goal of Arts and Crafts is things made by people and for people, pleasing both those who create them and those who use them. Hand-made household items are much better in quality and taste and cannot be compared with machine-made ones. The ideal organization of production for Arts and Crafts was the medieval guilds - when the entire process of producing a thing, from idea to final finishing, passed through the hands of a craftsman.

This movement drew artistic ideas from the European art of the Middle Ages, from Islamic art, and from the art of Japan recently discovered by Europeans. Those who shared the principles of Arts and Crafts tried themselves in various industries: they made furniture, tapestries, wallpaper, draperies, metalwork, glass and ceramics.

Basic features of the Arts and Crafts style:

Handmade.
Simple forms, moderation of decorations and thoughtful ornamentation. The furniture was simple, unpretentious and almost devoid of decoration, but wallpaper and fabrics were, on the contrary, very decorative.
Emphasizing the beauty and texture of natural materials.
Slight incompleteness of forms, their verticality and elongation.
Ornament from plants or animals.

In the 1860s, William Morris founded the decorative arts company Morris and Co, which included his friends: Pre-Raphaelite artists Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown

and architect Philip Webb. This company, for which Morris worked until the end of his life, encouraged and sponsored the revival of traditional crafts - stained glass painting, hand embroidery, the manufacture of printed fabrics for walls and furniture, and the dyeing of silk and wool with natural dyes. Morris himself came up with strikingly beautiful patterns - for wallpaper, for printed and woolen fabrics, for embroidery. He single-handedly revived tapestry production, and tapestries based on his designs are still produced and sold in Britain.

Morris's dream was a house as a work of art. “I have never been in a single rich house that would not have been improved if nine-tenths of what was stuffed into it had gone to the fire,” said Morris. His dream came true when he, in collaboration with the architect Philip Webb, built Red House near London - Red House

(received this name because, unlike all houses of that era, it was not plastered - the walls remained of red brick), which he presented as a wedding gift to his wife Jane. The design of all interior decoration and interior was carried out according to Morris's sketches.

Although the main idea of Arts and Crafts was to bring beauty into the everyday life of ordinary people, it soon turned out that they could not afford products from Morris’s workshops - the master artist needed to be paid a decent wage for his work, so it was not possible to compete with factory production in terms of product availability . However, Morris's products enjoyed continued success among wealthy clients.

Members of the Arts and Crafts movement strongly supported handicrafts not only at the professional but also at the amateur level. The Association of Home Arts and Crafts, which they created in the 1880s (which included members of the royal family), conducted master classes throughout the country and organized exhibitions.

The great merit of Arts and Crafts is that they were the first to proclaim the close connection between design and quality of life. Many features of this movement were preserved in the artistic styles that replaced it - aestheticism and modernism.

The key to understanding Arts and Crafts lies in the slogan, which was coined by another prominent member of the movement, the architect and artist Charles Voysey: “Head Hand and Heart.” “Head” is the ability to create and imagine, “hands” is skill and skill, “heart” is love and sincerity.

Founded in 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood can rightfully be considered the first avant-garde movement in Europe. The mysterious letters "R.K.V.", which appeared in the paintings of young and unknown artists, confused the English public - students of the Royal Academy of Arts in London wanted to change not only the principles of modern art, but also its role in social life society.

During the Industrial Revolution, elevated subjects and austere academic painting in the spirit of Raphael fell out of favor with the Victorian middle class, giving way to artistic kitsch and sentimental scenes. Realizing the crisis of the ideals of the High Renaissance, members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood turned to Italian art of the 15th century. The examples were the works of outstanding Quattrocento painters - a bright, rich palette, emphasized decorativeness of their works were combined with vital truthfulness and a sense of nature.

The leaders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were the artists D.E. Millais (1829-1896), D.G Rossetti (1828-1882), W.H. Hunt, as well as F.M. Brown. At the end of the 1850s, a new group formed around Rossetti, which included W. Morris, E. Burne-Jones (1833-1898), E. Siddal and S. Solomon.

Artists of Rossetti's circle were engaged in painting and graphics, wrote poetry and designed books, developed interior decor and furniture design. Back in the middle of the 19th century, the Pre-Raphaelites began working in the open air, raising the issue of women's rights in society and contributing to the formation of the most important style of the end of the century - Art Nouveau art.

Tasks of the Pre-Raphaelites

The young artists who founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood realized that they belonged to a culture in which there were no traditions of religious painting, destroyed in the 16th century, during the Reformation. The Pre-Raphaelites faced a difficult task - to resurrect religious art without resorting to the ideal-conventional images of the Catholic altarpiece.

Unlike the Renaissance masters, the basis for the composition of Pre-Raphaelite paintings was not imagination, but observations and faces taken from everyday life. Members of the Brotherhood rejected the soft, idealized forms characteristic of High Renaissance artists, preferring dynamic lines and bright, rich colors.

None of the Pre-Raphaelites particularly sought to emphasize theological truths in the content of their paintings. They rather approached the Bible as a source of human drama and sought literary and poetic meaning in it. Moreover, these works were not intended for the decoration of churches.

The most devout Christian in the group was Hunt, an eccentric religious intellectual. The rest of the Pre-Raphaelite artists tried to depict the life of the most ordinary people, while simultaneously identifying acute social, moral and ethical themes of modern society. Paintings on religious themes are juxtaposed with images that are relevant and pressing. Plots dedicated to social issues, as interpreted by the Pre-Raphaelites, take the form of modern parables.

Paintings on historical themes

Paintings on historical themes play a key role in the work of the Pre-Raphaelites. Traditionally, the British were not interested in exciting heroic scenes and idealized classical compositions filled with apathetic nude models. They preferred to study history through the plays of William Shakespeare and the novels of Walter Scott, and to learn the biography of great figures of the past in the theatrical images of outstanding actors such as Garrick and Sarah Siddons.

The Pre-Raphaelites rejected classical history with its inherent ideas of exemplary virtue, military power and monarchical achievements. Turning to literary and historical subjects, they accurately depicted the costumes and interior of the chosen era, but at the same time strengthened the genre aspect, making human relations the main motive of the composition. Before filling the picture with people, the artists carefully painted out all the details of the interior or landscape in the background to emphasize the relaxed and realistic atmosphere around the central scene. In an effort to create a believable composition, they found examples of costumes and ornaments in illuminated manuscripts and historical reference books. The features of each character are a meticulously drawn face of a model chosen from among the members of the Brotherhood. This approach rejected the accepted conventions of the high genre, but enhanced the effect of authenticity.

Pre-Raphaelite attitude to nature

The Pre-Raphaelite attitude towards nature constitutes one of the most important aspects of this movement in terms of both artistic theory and style. John Ruskin's call to "turn to nature with all your heart and walk hand in hand with her trustingly and industriously, remembering her instructions and thinking only about comprehending her meaning, without rejecting, without choosing, without ridiculing" had an undoubted influence on the Pre-Raphaelites. The young members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood eagerly studied Ruskin's works on Turner's legacy, but their own style is a unique synthesis of plein air painting, exciting Shakespearean plots and topical themes of modern work. The most successful works combine detailed composition with masterful depiction of figures and complex design that combines all the elements into a coherent whole.

John Everett Millais. Valley of Eternal Peace ("The weary will find peace")

At the same time, the Pre-Raphaelites were keen the latest discoveries in the field of natural sciences, which in the middle of the century was followed with great interest by the entire British society. Artists continued to compete with photography, which both complemented the images of nature they created and encouraged them to paint with even more emotion, using a bright, rich palette. By combining figures and landscape into an intricate composition, the Pre-Raphaelites emphasized the narrative element, appealing to the viewer's senses and creating mood in the painting. This is how painting guarded its borders.

Aestheticism movement, the purpose of art

At the beginning of the 1860s, a new stage began in the work of Rossetti and his associates. Young painters who joined the circle of former Pre-Raphaelites sought to realize their talent in various fields of art. However, the works created new group artists and writers turned out to be no less innovative. By the mid-1860s, Pre-Raphaelism had transformed into the Aestheticism movement. The works in this section are dedicated to beauty as such.

Aspiration towards it, this “sole absolute goal” of art, according to Rossetti, characterizes the second decade of Pre-Raphaelite painting.

Rossetti also strove for beauty, but his goal was to create a new aesthetic ideal. During this period, the artist performed a series of works that glorify full-blooded, healthy, emphatically sensual female beauty.

The elaborate brushwork and broad strokes of paint applied with hard brushes deliberately imitate 16th-century Venetian painting and, in particular, the technique of Titian and Veronese.

Deep and rich greens, blues and dark reds replaced the Gothic stained glass transparency of the early Pre-Raphaelite palette.

Despite their relationship with the paintings of the old masters, the paintings shocked contemporaries, who furiously accused Rossetti of immorality. At the same time, the artistic interpretation of images and the semantic content of these works had a significant influence on the formation of the stylistics of Art Nouveau art.

Poetic painting of the Pre-Raphaelites

In the mid-1850s, Rossetti temporarily stopped painting and, turning to watercolor techniques, created a series of colorful and complex compositions. In these works, the artist’s passion for the Middle Ages was especially clearly demonstrated - many watercolors were created under the impression of illuminated manuscripts.

In the appearance of the tall, pale and slender heroines of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's watercolors, one can often discern the figure and features of Elizabeth Siddal.

Watercolors by a representative of the new generation of artists in Rossetti's circle, Edward Burne-Jones, resemble cloisonne enamel, reflecting their author's interest in various techniques and types of art.

Almost all watercolors were inspired by chivalric poetic novels, ballads or the work of romantic poets. At the same time, the independent nature of these works does not allow us to see in them only an illustration of literary work. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, Rossetti created a number of works on religious subjects. The rich color palette and general arrangement of the figures reflect the influence of Venetian art, which during this period replaced the artist’s early passion for Florentine Quattrocento painting.

Pre-Raphaelite Utopia, design

Thanks to William Morris and the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co., founded by him together with E. Burne-Jones, D. G. Rossetti and F. M. Brown, works of applied art had a significant impact on the development of European design in the second half of the 19th century, influenced the development of British aestheticism and gave rise to the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Morris and his associates sought to raise the design's status to the same level as other types fine arts. Initially, they emphasized the collective and guild nature of labor, taking as a model idealized ideas about medieval artisans. The company produced furnishings and decorations for home and church interiors: tiles, stained glass, furniture, printed fabrics, carpets, wallpaper and tapestries. Burne-Jones was considered the main artist, and Morris was responsible for the design of the ornaments. The heroes of Burne-Jones's later works do not show any emotions, their figures are frozen in motionless impassivity, so that the meaning of the plot is unclear and, as it were, hidden in dense layers of paint.

Edward Burne-Jones. Sidonia von Bork, 1560. 1860

This artist's dreamy imagery and abstract compositions provide an imaginative alternative to the extreme materialism of Victorian Britain. In this, his art undoubtedly seemed like a utopia, but a completely abstract utopia. As he himself said: “I am a born rebel, but my political views are a thousand years out of date: these are the views of the first millennium and, therefore, have no meaning.”

Linley Sambourne, Caricature of Oscar Wilde, Punch Magazine, Volume 80, 1881
O, I feel just as happy as a bright sunflower!
Aesthete of Aesthetes!
What's in a name?
The poet is WILDE,
But his poetry"s tame.

The Aesthetic Movement is a term describing the movement of the 1870s and 1880s that manifested itself in the fine and decorative arts and architecture of Great Britain and later the United States. A reaction against what seemed prudish in art and design, the Movement was characterized by a cult of beauty and an emphasis on the pure pleasure it gave. In painting there was an idea of the autonomy of art, as well as the concept of "art for art's sake", which originated in France in literature and was brought to Britain in the 1860s.

The Aesthetic Movement was championed by writers and critics Walter Pater, Algernon Charles Swinburne and Oscar Wilde. Adhering to Pater's theory, artists associated with the Movement painted paintings that were plotless or devoid of a significant plot. Dante Gabriel Rossetti drew inspiration from Venetian art because of its emphasis on color and the decorative qualities of a painting. The result of his searches were several half-length images female figures, such as "Blue Boudoir" (1865, Institute Fine Arts Barbera).

D. Whistler “Princess from the Land of Porcelain”

The walls beneath Jekyll's elaborate partitions were covered in Spanish leather, which Whistler had painted in gold over a blue background with motifs of a peacock's eye and peacock feathers in 1877; Opposite his painting hanging above the fireplace, he depicted two peacocks with luxurious plumage. In the fireplace is a pair of wrought iron fire-dogs that Jekyll made in the shape of sunflowers and peacocks. The sunflower was a signature motif of the Aesthetic Movement, appearing in tiles by William de Morgan, embroidery by C. Ashby, furniture chintz and wallpaper by Bruce Talbert, and on the painted front of a clock (1880, London, Victoria and Albert Museum), possibly based on a design by Lewis Foreman Day .

A watch, presumably based on a sketch by L.F. Day (1880, London, Victoria and Albert Museum)

William de Morgan, ceramic tiles

A common feature of the “artistic” furniture, ceramics, art forging and textiles of the “Aesthetic Movement” and the Queen Anne Style of architecture, so beloved by Godwin and Richard Norman Shaw, was the desire of their creators (manifested in the sophistication of their designs) to raise the status of their works to the status of works fine arts. They created “artistic” interior items and buildings. They both reformed and shaped taste—an important concern of William Morris, whose views, although at odds with the philosophy of the Aesthetic Movement, helped spread its influence throughout the United States. By 1870, Morris's wallpaper was being sold in Boston, and two years later, Charles Locke Eastlake's Hints on Household Taste was published in an American edition.
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