#Aestheticism

[classicarte]

Détail de « Le Divertissement Musicale », par Hans Makart, ca. 1874.

Detail of "Musical Entertainment", by Hans Makart, ca. 1874.

[lionofchaeronea]

The Lady of the Lake Telleth Arthur of the Sword Excalibur. Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley for Book I, Chapter III of Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory, published by J.M. Dent and Co. in 1893.

[lucidloving]

Janet Fitch, White Oleander // Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye // Gail Carson Levine, "Fairest" // Anne Sexton, A Self-Portrait in Letters // Hieu Minh Nguyen, "Pig" // Valentina-Remenar on DeviantArt // Ashe Vernon, Not A Girl

[verademialove]

“I guess when you are young, you believe that you will meet many people with whom you'll connect with, but later in life you realize it only happens a few times.”

Before Sunset (2004)

[lady-lazaruz]

[7pleiades7]

Acme and Septimius (c. 1868) by Sir Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, PRA (British, 1830-1896), oil on canvas, diameter: 99 cm, The Ashmolean Museum of Art, Oxford

[oscarwildin]

the weather is starting to feel like estranging myself from society and sleeping in a warehouse and walking miles into town until my classmate who i’m secretly in love with and obsessed to a point of unrealistic idealization saves me from dying of hypothermia

[kinkander]

Carl Spitzweg - The Rose Lover // John William Waterhouse - The Soul of the Rose

[crimson-and-clover-1717]

‘Stede Bonnet, lover of Beauty’

Stede rocks the Aestheticism ideal 150 years before it exists. The movement sought to place beauty for beauty’s sake at the centre of art and literature. It also influenced attitudes towards clothes, furnishings and food as extensions of artistic beauty.

Stede weaves beauty into every aspect of life. His clothing speaks for itself. A library, not just arranged practically, but adorned with both gossamer and red velvet curtains. A ship, not just well-constructed with the finest cherry wood from Brazil, but with secret passageways, chandeliers (two!) and hanging artwork.

Yes, the beauty aesthetic is made possible through wealth, but Stede also finds beauty in the small things. A near-dead plant flourishes in its beauty under Stede’s care. ‘Old food’ is the ‘perfect paperweight’. Even Ed’s modest fish is deemed beautiful. We also see Stede’s influence on Frenchie and Wee John as they explore the aesthetic possibilities for their nook. It’s as much about attitude as money. Ed has ‘more riches than you can shake a stick at’ yet struggles to recognise the necessity of finding and celebrating beauty in everyday life. Self-esteem and class consciousness playing a huge part in this.

A moment on deck exemplifies further beauty found in small things. Stede, a parody of an Edwardian lady in a birds-of-paradise tea-gown. Impractical china tea-cup in hand. This isn’t pageantry. It’s ritual as beauty. Creative self-care. Food as art. And Ed understands the assignment with his milk dollops and excessive sugaring.

We see Ed cling desperately to the beauty of food, clothing and music as creative self-care after Stede’s departure, before eschewing the aesthetic altogether in favour of self-imposed austerity as he enters the Kraken spiral. The removal of beauty and its associated softness, a soul death.

And Stede again. He’s so steeped in Beauty for Beauty’s sake, any attempt at practical cartography gives way to artistic licence (‘Is that Cuba? It’s hard to tell. I’ve drawn it myself’), love poetry and daydream-doodled miniatures. Whilst an abacus is a percussion instrument (‘musical’).

We joke about Ed as the ultimate in Stede’s quest for beauty. But I don’t think Stede ever includes Ed personally in aestheticism (I say more about the objectification of Ed here). It’s not how Stede views people. Ed’s purpose isn’t to be beautiful, he just happens to be beautiful. Ed’s purpose is to be Ed.

Other than that, for Stede, art is everywhere. Beauty in the big and the small things. And ultimate meta? That’s what OFMD is. A whacking great fuck-off piece of beautiful art. It’s creative self-care we can indulge in daily like overly-sugared tea. The cult of Beauty is alive and well, and we’re not going anywhere. Stede would so be a fan of our show. I think Ed would grow to like it too.

[goghvanwillemvincent]

John and Salome (1894) by Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898)

[obdormiio]

Crimson Peak (2015) dir. Guillermo del Toro

[lionofchaeronea]

Title: Hope Artist: George Frederick Watts (English, 1817-1904) and assistants Date: 1886 Genre: allegory Period: Victorian Movement: Aestheticism Dimensions: 142.2 cm (55.9 in) high x 111.8 cm (44 in) wide Medium: oil on canvas Location: Tate Britain

[sadsongbird]

C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses

[verademialove]

"Sinners judging sinners for sinning differently."

Sui Ishida, Tokyo Ghoul

[lady-lazaruz]

[oscarwildin]

i am nothing in my soul if not obsessive