The House Beautiful: Oscar Wilde and the Aesthetic Interior

Description

Published in the centenary year of Oscar Wilde's death, this volume celebrates Wilde's association with the Aesthetic Movement, which flourished in Britain and America in the late 19th century and which Wilde came to personify. Examining the originsand development of the Aesthetic Movement and its influence on the decorative arts, Charlotte Gere traces the people with whom Wilde associated: the artists, architects and designers he admired and the houses and interiors by which he was influenced. His theories on art and interior decoration, which drew heavily on John Ruskin, Walter Pater and William Moris, were disseminated not only in the drawing rooms of the socially elite, but also through his lecture tours in America and the United Kingdom. On his marriage to Constance in 1884, Wilde took a house in Tite Street, Chelsea, and commissioned the architect Edward Godwin to design the interiors. Detailed descriptions survive to provide an insight into Wilde's highly developed sense of the "house beautiful" For the ordinary middle-class householder, the elements of the "artistic interior" were explained through numerous books and magazines giving detailed instructions on decoration, the use of colour and pattern, the choice of furniture and the creation of harmony in the home. Lesley Hoskins, in the final chapter, examines the popular expression of the Aesthetic Movement, drawing on these published sources as well as contemporary photographs and furniture catalogues. For Wilde, the house beautiful was short-lived. In spite of achieving acclaim and wealth as a playwright, he was ruined by his notorious affair with Lord Alfred Douglas and the trials brought by Doublas's father, the Marquess of Queensberry, which left him bankrupt, imprisoned and ultimately exiled. This volume offers a comprehensive account of the aesthetic interior across a wide spectrum of late 19th-century society, illustrated with a selection of evocative images, some of which are published for the first time.

Charlotte Gere is an established authority on nineteenth-century design. Her many publications include Nineteenth-Century Decoration: The Art of the Interior; Victorian Jewellery Design; Arts and Crafts in Britain and America (with Isabelle Anscombe); and An Album of Nineteenth-Century Interiors: Watercolours from Two Private Collections.

'this opulently illustrated book...gives us an erudite account of that extraordinary efflorescence of aesthetic life...' The Art Newspaper 'An interesting and enjoyable read, offering a comprehensive account of the Aesthetic interior...' Antiques and Collectables 'This is a beautifully illustrated book on a subject which has received little attention...' Brighton Argus '...an attractive and an informative book.' Journal of the William Morris Society '... a superb appraisal of Wilde and the Aesthetic interior... the book includes some fascinating material that makes this study one that will stand up after the 2000 commemorations of Wilde are pale memories...' Mary W. Blanchard, Studies in the Decorative Arts