The aim of this research paper is to trace the origin and development of Art for art’s sake movement from Marxist perspective. The origin of Art for art’s movement can be traced back to the late Romanticists who felt themselves misfit in the post-revolutionary bourgeois world of business, profit and industrialisation of the Patriarchal countryside of Europe. Therefore, an insoluble contradiction occurred between the aims of the late Romanticist artists and writers and the conditions of the Post-revolutionary bourgeois capitalist world. However, they became hostile to it, but failed to see any hope of changing it.
The employment of Marxist literary hermeneutics in analysing Art for art’s sake movement yields the result that the apostles of this movement express their disharmony with the bourgeois capitalist social formation. They refuse to be commodity producer in the bourgeois publishing industry, in which an author is a labourer or commodity producer for those consumers whom he does not see. However, the apostles of this movement failed to introduce new modes of literary production as well as to change the bourgeois social formation. The present research study highlights the purpose, rise and fall of Art for art’s sake movement in an innovative Marxist perspective.
Table of Contents
1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Literature Review
4. Discussion
5. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Themes
This research paper explores the origins and development of the "Art for Art’s Sake" movement, analyzing it through a Marxist perspective. It examines the movement as a form of Romantic protest against the commodification of art within the bourgeois capitalist society of 19th-century Europe, while also highlighting the internal contradictions of the aesthetes who rejected market utilitarianism while remaining confined by the capitalistic mode of production.
- Historical origins of the "Art for Art’s Sake" movement
- Marxist interpretation of literary aesthetics and production
- The conflict between artists and bourgeois social formation
- The evolution of "Art for Art’s Sake" from Romanticism to decadence
- The failure of the movement to transcend capitalist social relations
Excerpt from the Book
Discussion
The doctrine of Art-for-Art's-sake movement which, sprung in France at the middle of the nineteenth-century, promulgated in the writings of Theophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), Theodor de Banvilli (1823-91) and Leconte de Lisle (1818-94). It was transplanted to Germany by Goethe, Schiller, Winckelmann and Otto Ludwig, to England by James McNeill Wistler, Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde and the members of the Yellow Book Group, and to Russia by Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov and Ostrovsky refused the moral, political, social and utilitarian functions of art and literature. In their view art and literature are neither influenced by the society nor do influence it. They are self-autonomous, independent and self-sufficient and their function is only to provide aesthetic pleasure. The idealism of Immanuel Kant provided philosophical and ideological bases to the doctrine of the movement. His claim of the disinterestedness of the intuitions or the imagination (Kant, I., 1982, Pp. 42-43) is kept on further by Arthur Schopenhauer. He was of the opinion that ‘an absolute’ art keeps the mind off from despicable life and get it from its bondage to the will.
Summary of Chapters
Abstract: Provides a concise overview of the study’s aim to trace the "Art for Art’s Sake" movement using Marxist literary hermeneutics.
Introduction: Contextualizes the movement as a reaction to industrialization and the bourgeois publishing industry, where art was increasingly treated as a commodity.
Literature Review: Discusses existing research on the movement, including perspectives from Marxist critics like Plekhanov and Fischer.
Discussion: Analyzes the philosophical foundations of the movement, the influence of figures like Gautier and Baudelaire, and the contradictions inherent in their rejection of societal utility.
Conclusion: Summarizes the movement's history, noting that while it protested capitalist exploitation, it failed to provide a viable alternative to the prevailing social and economic structure.
Keywords
Art for Art’s sake, Marxist perspective, Romanticism, bourgeois publishing industry, aesthetics, absolute autonomy, literary production, social formation, utilitarianism, idealism, commodification, decadence, class consciousness.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research paper?
The paper examines the historical rise and fall of the "Art for Art’s Sake" movement, specifically analyzing it through the lens of Marxist literary theory.
What are the central themes discussed in the work?
Key themes include the alienation of the artist in capitalist society, the rejection of art as a commercial commodity, and the philosophical search for absolute autonomy in artistic expression.
What is the core research question?
The paper investigates how the "Art for Art’s Sake" movement functioned as a Romantic revolt against the socio-economic conditions of 19th-century capitalism and why it ultimately failed to transform those conditions.
Which scientific or theoretical framework is applied?
The author utilizes Marxist literary hermeneutics to evaluate the movement, assessing the intersection of economic modes of production and artistic output.
What does the main body of the text cover?
It covers the movement’s origins in France, its dissemination across Europe, its philosophical roots in Kantian and Schopenhauerian idealism, and the responses of prominent literary figures to bourgeois society.
Which keywords best characterize this study?
The most important terms include absolute autonomy of art, bourgeois social formation, literary production, aestheticism, and Marxist perspective.
Why did the proponents of the movement reject the "bourgeois world"?
They perceived the capitalist social order as vulgar and materialistic, viewing the demand for "useful art" as a limitation on the freedom and integrity of the artist.
How does the author characterize the role of Baudelaire within the movement?
Baudelaire is viewed as a complex figure whose work reflects both an arrogant withdrawal from bourgeois society and a fascination with its jarring, modern reality.
Did the "Art for Art's Sake" movement successfully change the capitalist social order?
No, the paper concludes that while the movement protested against capitalist exploitation, it remained stuck within the logic of production for production's sake, failing to offer a new socialist alternative.
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- Assistant Professor Javed Akhtar (Autor:in), 2017, The Emergence of the Art for Art’s sake Movement. Its Origin from a Marxist perspective, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/354277
