The Fin de Siècle: 1890s & Late Victorian Culture

This is striking example of one of the Beggarstaff Brother’s poster designs from 1895. The Beggarstaffs were comprised of British illustrator Sir William Nicholson and graphic artist James Pryde. You can see more of their work in the book, The Beggarstaff Posters: The Work of James Pryde and William Nicholson.

(via oscarwildeassembly)

A question for all of my wonderful new readers/followers...

Who is your favorite author (or literary work) from the late nineteenth century? I would love to know!

Lord Frederic Leighton - Flaming June 1895.

**For my mother: this is her favorite painting. Happy Mother’s Day!

(via: my-ear-trumpet: allnightradio)

Decadence: The Strange Life of an Epithet by Richard Gilman (Review)

In this book, Richard Gilman attempts to disentangle the word “decadent” from what he views as years of mistreatment and overuse. He critiques the manner in which the term has been co-opted by politicians and popular culture spokespersons, who have managed to turn the word into a catch-all epithet for lasciviousness and sexual vice. Gilman argues that the misuse of the word “decadent” to describe behaviors seen as symbolic of an empire in decline (in much the same way we often view ancient Rome’s demise) oversimplifies the rich cultural and artistic heritage attached to the term. He points to figures such as Verlaine and Flaubert, who took decadence and all of its artistic devices and its capacity to critique traditional values quite seriously. Gilman explains: “Decadence was once a word that lived in the depths, under the pressure of extreme consciousness.” Now it exists in the thin air of the pretense of extremity, a device for the imitation of spiritual or moral concern, or for mocking them (7).”

10 Victorian and Nineteenth Century Digital Projects:

There are truly some exciting new projects going on in the digital world for those of us who love Victorian and Nineteenth-Century art, literature, and culture. Here are just a few…know of any more?

1. John Ruskin’s Teaching Collection: The Elements of Drawing.

2. Database of Mid-Victorian Wood-Engraved Illustration.

3. Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource.

4. Nineteenth Century Serials Edition Online.

5. The Swinburne Project.

6. The Walt Whitman Archive.

7. William Morris Online Edition.

8. The Poetess Archive.

9. Collected Biographies of Women.

10. British Library Archival Sound Recordings.

*And these are two excellent databases for searching/researching digital humanities projects and collections: arts-humanities.net and NINES (Nineteenth Century Scholarship Online).

“The Rhymers’ Club was a group of London-based poets, founded in 1890 by W. B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys. Originally not much more than a dining club, generally meeting upstairs at the Cheshire Cheese pub in Fleet Street, it produced anthologies of poetry in 1892 and 1894.

Those who took part also included Ernest Dowson, Lionel Johnson, Francis Thompson, Richard Le Gallienne, John Gray, John Davidson, Edwin J. Ellis, Victor Plarr, Selwyn Image, Lord Alfred Douglas, Arthur Cecil Hillier, John Todhunter, G.A. Greene, Arthur Symons, Ernest Radford, and Thomas William Rolleston. Oscar Wilde attended some meetings that were held in private homes. The group as a whole matched quite closely Yeats’ retrospective idea of ‘the tragic generation’, destined for failure and in many cases early death.” (via)

A Japanese Village in the Middle of Victorian England?

*A pre-cursor to Epcot Center at Disney World?

The idea that in 1885 there was a Japanese village located in Knightsbridge, the heart of bustling Victorian London, may strike many as being something more suited to a fanciful Doctor Who plot than a genuinely real fact. Thanks to Sir Hugh Cortazzi this long forgotten episode in the nascent years of Anglo-Japanese relations is brought bursting back to life in this excellently researched and beautifully illustrated book. Utilizing a wide variety of sources, he sets the context and describes the process which transformed a corner of Victorian London into “The Japanese Native Village, erected and peopled exclusively by natives of Japan (page 9).” In the 1880s there was an amazing thirst for “things Japanese” as the land of the rising sun represented an exciting and mysterious destination at the far frontiers of European knowledge and imagination. Recreating a Japanese village in fashionable Knightsbridge was just one way to satisfy the intense Japan-mania of the day and it also helps explain why in the same year Gilbert and Sullivan’s popular comic opera The Mikado was launched on the London stage for its first performances.

(via: japansociety.org)

Christopher Dresser was a designer and writer on design, now widely known as Britain’s first independent industrial designer. He was one of the major popularizers of the Anglo-Japanese and Aesthetic movements in Britain.

As evidenced by his famous teapot design, his work often borrowed from the sparse, clean lines of the Japanese aesthetic.