Water pipes

Who was the leader of the aesthetic movement? Pre-Raphaelite artists

Ever wondered why the movements of each person are so unique and unique?
Walking style, movements of arms, fingers, general coordination.

Why do some move captivatingly smoothly and harmoniously, while others move jerkily and unnaturally, or even Just moving. Inexpressive, average.
Why does the way one girl sits on a chair or raises a cup of coffee to her mouth make you lose your head, while another can wriggle in a passionate dance, but will not evoke half the same emotions?

What makes our movements complete?
Filled with the same aesthetics that always attracts the eye. Fascinating.

To begin with, we can look at how people we know well move.
What from their lives brings its own unique features to their movements.

Firstly, this is of course a sport. Repeated repetitions of the same movements are deeply embedded in the body's memory.
We begin to get used to moving the way we were taught to move.
And it doesn’t matter what exactly we were taught: skiing, dancing or fighting.
Movement will always reveal what exactly your body has remembered. A light sliding step, “waddling” from foot to foot with the body moving, light springy movements - sometimes they are barely noticeable, and sometimes it seems that the person never left his workout.

My first coach told me how, in their youth, at sports school they loved to watch people from the window and guess by their movements what exactly they were doing.
Time has passed, and now I'm already interested in something like this :)

Of course, it’s not only sports that makes its presence felt.
Injuries, fears, momentary emotions - they are all reflected in the way you move and hold yourself.

When many different “schools of movement” are mixed in a person, it becomes much more interesting to watch him.
In this case, a person begins to move not just along the rails of the usual, but gets closer and closer to that same harmony.
His body has memorized many times more paths, his coordination network many times more often - almost any of his movements is filled.

And then it doesn’t matter at all what exactly he is doing - chopping wood, dancing, carrying heavy objects or chopping lettuce.
Any movement in this case will be natural. Economical. Beautiful. Instinctively!

Recently I was in the supermarket, and, as always, I had fun with the cart along the way.
No, well, you need to somehow entertain yourself in the store, besides collecting groceries :))
And after I started dancing, it becomes great entertainment.

So - the aesthetics of movement with a cart, this is the same dance where the cart is an almost ideal partner!
It moves exactly according to your movements, spins, is easy to control, and glides smoothly.

You push it between people, easily walk alongside, spin the cart with one hand, remove the product from the shelf with the other, make a U-turn yourself, meet the cart with your hand, changing the direction of rotation so that it easily passes between people...
The heavier the cart, the more interesting it is to drive - the more you have to predict the movements of people around, make allowances for inertia, for the location of products inside, which shift its center of gravity. This is incredibly fun :)

Women's movements are a separate story :)
The movements of some seem to be filled with their inner beauty, vitality, femininity.
They will look equally natural in an evening dress, in camouflage in the forest, and in potato sack with a hole for the head(With)
Hand movements, head turns, gaze directions... how few of these are left.
Previously, this was specially taught. Now they also teach, but few people study.

There are many more girls whose movements are sharp - boyish or, on the contrary, deliberately feminine, tacky, caricatured.
They do not understand that it is not the length of the skirt that is important, but the correspondence of the length of the skirt to the internal content :)

People you know always recognize you by the way you move.
We may not yet see the face, we may not recognize the clothes, but we will always recognize one leg, a hook instead of a hand and a parrot on the shoulder.

Try to think about how you move.

Try to specifically pay attention to this at least for a short time - to transform the unconscious process into a conscious one.
Not for the purpose of correction, although you may want to do that.
Just out of curiosity. Try to feel the aesthetics of your own movement.

Take a closer look at the little things that make up your image.
Realize where exactly this or that manner of doing something came from.
You can learn a lot of new things about yourself :)

Further development of Pre-Raphaelitism

In 1856, Rossetti met with William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Burne-Jones was delighted with Rossetti's painting 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.

D. G. Rossetti - First anniversary of the death of Beatrice, 1853

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.”

Edward Burne-Jones - King Cophetua and the Beggar Woman, 1884

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.

Henry Ford - Stepmother Turning Brothers into Swans, 1894

Evelyn Paul - The Divine Comedy

"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, the main idea of which was a return to manual craftsmanship as the ideal of applied art, as well as the elevation of printing, foundry, and engraving to the rank of full-fledged arts. 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

Under the influence of Pre-Raphaelite poetry, British decadence developed in the 1880s: Ernst Dawson, Lionel Johnson, Michael Field, Oscar Wilde. A romantic longing for the Middle Ages was reflected in Yeats's early work.

William Yeats - He Who Dreamed of a Fairyland (1893)

He lingered at the market in Dromacher,
I considered myself family in a foreign country,
Dreamed of loving while the earth was behind him
She didn’t close the stone doors;
But someone is a pile of fish not far away,
Like silver, scattered on the counter,
And those, raising their cold heads,
They sang about an alien island,
Where are the people above the embroidered wave
Under the woven canopy of motionless crowns
Love tames the rush of time.
And he lost his happiness and peace.

He walked for a long time through the sands in Lissadell
And in my dreams I saw how it would heal,
Having gained wealth and honor,
Until the bones decay in the grave;
But from a random puddle a worm
I sang to him with a swampy gray throat,
That somewhere far away in the sweet freedom
Everyone dances from the ringing joy
Under the gold and silver of heaven;
When suddenly there is silence,
The sun and moon shine in the fruits.

He realized that he was dreaming about something useless.

He thought at the well in Scanavina,
What is the rage of the heart at the mocking light
Will become a rumor around for many years,
When the flesh drowns in the earthly abyss;
But then the weed sang to him that
What will become of his chosen people?
Above the old wave, under the firmament,
Where gold is torn apart by silver
And darkness envelops the world victoriously;
Sang to him about what night
It can help lovers forever.
And his anger dissipated without a trace.

He slept under a smoky cliff at Lugnagall;
It would seem that now, in the vale of sleep,
When the earth took its toll,
He could forget about his homeless lot.
But will the worms stop howling?
Weaving rings around his bones,
That God lays his fingers on the sky,
To envelop with a gentle radiance
Dancers above a thoughtless wave?
What's the point of dreams while the Lord is in the heat?
Didn't you burn happy love?
He did not find peace even in the grave.

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 had friendly relations. However, although Swinburne declared his commitment to the principles of Pre-Raphaelism, he certainly goes beyond this direction.

Publishing activities

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.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Ballads and epic poems (Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Ballads and narrative poems). - L.: Kelmscott Press, 1893. Edition by William Morris

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 spontaneity 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

W. H. Hunt - Prudence Awakened, 1853

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 Hunt’s “Light of the World,” the mysterious divine light of faith is depicted in the form of the Savior with a bright lamp in his hands, striving to penetrate closed human hearts, like Christ knocking on the door of a human home.

W. H. Hunt - Light of the World, 1854

The Pre-Raphaelites drew 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 theme of prostitution in his painting “The Awakening Conscience” (eng. 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).

R. Redgrave - Governess, 1844

And later, in the 40s, Redgrave created many similar works dedicated to the exploitation of women.

D. G. Rossetti - Proserpina, 1874

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.

Women's images

The Pre-Raphaelites created a new type of female beauty in fine art - detached, calm, mysterious, which would later be developed by Art Nouveau artists. The woman in the Pre-Raphaelite paintings is a medieval image of ideal 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.

W. Waterhouse - Lady of Shalott, 1888

The image of tragic love was attractive to the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers: at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, more than fifty paintings were created on the theme of “The Lady of Shalott,” and the title of the poem became 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.

W. Waterhouse - Ophelia, 1894

The Victorian concept of femininity was redefined. For example, in “Ophelia” by Arthur Hughes or a series of paintings “Past and Present” (English 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 picture, 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 of 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 is not just a 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.

W. Waterhouse - “I am haunted by shadows,” said the Lady of Shalott, 1911

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. As an example, we can cite Hunt’s “Woke Shyness” or Millet’s painting “Mariana”.

D.E. Millet - Mariana, 1851

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

W. H. Hunt - English Shores, 1852

Holman Hunt, Millet, 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, which they 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 Millet’s painting “Autumn Leaves” Ruskin said: “For the first time, twilight is depicted so perfectly.”

D.E. Millet - Autumn Leaves, 1856

The painters made meticulous studies of tones from life, 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.

Lifestyle

Pre-Raphaelitism is a cultural style that penetrated into 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.”

William Morris - Queen Ginevra, 1858

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 be of too much 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, in a long dress made of fabric the color of muted purple, made of natural material down to the last lace, with a shock of curly black hair falling in large waves along her temples, a small and pale face, large dark holes, deep and quite Swinburne-like, with thick black curved eyebrows... A high open neck covered 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 sophisticated and bohemian atmosphere, and his eccentric image itself became part of the Pre-Raphaelite legend: Rossetti lived with a variety of people, including the poet Algernon Swinburne, the 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. The garden was home to 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

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 point to 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.

D.E. Millet - Black Brunswick Hussar, 1860

D. G. Rossetti - Beata Beatrix, 1864-1870

D. G. Rossetti - Annunciation, 1850

W. Waterhouse - Gilias and Nymphs, 1896

W.H. Hunt - Finding the Savior in the Temple, 1860

W.H. Hunt - Hired Shepherd, 1851

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 the best way to revive it would be to return to the sincerity and simplicity of early Italian art (then There are arts 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 Christina Rossetti's fiancé), the sculptor and poet Thomas Woolner, the young nineteen-year-old artist and later critic Frederick Stephens, and Rossetti's younger brother William Michael Rossetti, who followed in the footsteps of his older brother into art school. , but did not show any particular 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 portray 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 Slosh” (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. The 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 a pure heart, not focusing on anything, choosing nothing and neglecting nothing.” 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.” to look like". Madox Brown specifically painted this picture on the coast in order to achieve the effect of “lighting from all sides” that happens at sea on cloudy days. The Pre-Raphaelite painting technique 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 blind - 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 Painters: "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 passion for 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 in the late period of the 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 had 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" Hunt 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 female beauty in fine art - detached, calm, mysterious, which would later be developed by Art Nouveau artists. The woman in the Pre-Raphaelite paintings is a medieval image of ideal 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.
The image of tragic love was attractive to the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers: at the end of the 19th and 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 became 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 is not just a 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.”

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 the inner world of the model (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.[ Particularly famous are the photographs of Jane Morris taken by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in July 1865.
Many famous photographers were subsequently 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 be of too much 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, in a long dress made of fabric the color of muted purple, made of natural material down to the last lace, with a shock of curly black hair falling in large waves along her temples, a small and pale face, large dark holes, deep and quite Swinburne-like, with thick black curved eyebrows... A high open neck covered 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 sophisticated and bohemian atmosphere, and his eccentric image itself became part of the Pre-Raphaelite legend: Rossetti lived with a variety of people, including the poet Algernon Swinburne, the 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. The garden was home to 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, retrospectism 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 Pre-Raphaelite works, organized by the Christie's auction house, took place from May 14 to 18, 2008 at the Tretyakov Gallery.

In 1856, the artist and former leader of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, took on two young men, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, as students, who supported their teacher's ideas. Eroticism, stylization of forms, cult of beauty - they tried to embody all these features in their works.
But if the Pre-Raphaelite movement of the first wave aimed to fight academic painting, the second generation sought to revive applied art and fought against the impersonality of industrial products.
William Morris (1834-1896), publisher, poet and designer, played a major role in the revival of artistic crafts. William was born into a family in which history was the main hobby and it is not surprising that from childhood he was interested in the novels of Walter Scott, ancient abbeys and cathedrals. Morris initially intended to devote his life to theology and studied theology at Exeter College. There he met Edward Burne-Jones. The young people were united by a love of the Middle Ages and art, and they left college to study Gothic architecture.
They made a trip to France, where they visited Gothic temples and cathedrals, but upon returning to London, the direction of their creative activity changed dramatically - the reason for this was their acquaintance with Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Burne-Jones, who had almost no artistic education, entered the artist’s studio as an assistant and student. This was the beginning of his artistic activity.
Morris created only one painting, in which he depicted his beloved Jane Burden in the image of Queen Guinevere (this painting is also known as “The Beautiful Isolde”).

It is believed that Morris was extremely dissatisfied with the result and felt that he failed to portray either the beauty of the model or the feelings that he felt for her.
However, Morris managed to realize himself in other forms of art, including poetry, prose and decorative arts.

In 1860, the famous Red House was completed - a red house in Bexleyheath. Many Pre-Raphaelites, including Rossetti and his friend and model Elizabeth Siddal, took part in decorating the house. Perhaps the success of Red House was due to the fact that it combined the desire for idealism of the first generation and the desire for functionalism of the second. Morris, however, was not entirely satisfied with the success achieved. He really managed to create the desired environment, both functional and aesthetically pleasing, but only within the confines of one house. This led to the fact that Victorian houses began to be filled with monotonous household items that resembled props.

Morris soon decided to give his business a new scope and created the company “Morris, Marshall and Faulkner, artistic works in painting, carving, furniture and metal.” Two World Exhibitions also played a significant role - a kind of symbols of rapid industrialization, held in London in 1851 and 1862. The triumph of progress was undoubted - numerous devices were presented at the exhibition that facilitated or replaced heavy manual work. But, oddly enough, their invention did not lead to a more refined elaboration of details on objects of decorative and applied art, but, on the contrary, to the creation of a mass of elaborate products. It was not so much the technical revolution that was to blame, but rather the tastes of the Victorian aristocracy: all objects were created in the spirit of eclecticism, fashionable during the time of Queen Victoria, and it was believed that a beautiful thing was a luxurious thing, so decorated that it was difficult to understand its purpose.
With the advent of factories and factories, industrially produced things came into use. Imitation of one material or another became especially popular; for example, at the exhibition of 1851, silver items were presented that were given a curved shape, as if they were made of porcelain.
This does not mean that participants in the Arts and Crafts movement deliberately avoided the use of technical innovations - they used machines only in cases where the product required a delicate and accurate design that could not be achieved by hand (for example, when creating metal products and fittings).
The ideal for Morris and his associates was the image of a medieval artisan, who combined the roles of technologist, designer and artist. It was thanks to the combination of physical and intellectual labor that the medieval master became a creator: the product turned out to be simple, but, at the same time, did not look overly dry. Morris's workshops, naturally, could not be a simple copy of the craft guilds of the Gothic era: in most cases, the functions of the designer and the artist had to be separated: first, the artist created a drawing or sketch, after which the designers selected technologies and materials

In the conditions of rapidly growing cities and changing their appearance, once thriving crafts either fell into decline or completely disappeared. Morris, and then members of the Arts and Crafts movement, which arose in 1888, had to travel throughout Great Britain to learn the secrets of ancient crafts and learn various skills. Sometimes he even hired folk craftsmen to work in his workshops so that they could pass on their manual labor experience. If the foundations of a particular craft were lost, Morris resorted to experimentation and tried to create it anew. The main goal of the company and the “arts and crafts” movement was not only the revival of manual labor, but also the cultivation of good taste among representatives of all social classes. As mentioned above, eclecticism was popular in aristocratic and wealthy circles, often reaching the point of vulgarity and dominating everything: from household items to furniture and wallpaper. Even Oscar Wilde said in one of his speeches that a person who grew up in such a home and embarked on a criminal path has the right to be acquitted by the court.

People of modest means simply could not afford to buy beautiful things and were forced to purchase mass-produced goods - they were much cheaper. Therefore, it was initially planned to produce highly artistic products at an affordable price, so that people of any income could afford to buy them. However, Morris soon realized that handmade products were many times more expensive than mass-produced goods. Automating work in their workshops, as well as neglecting the quality of materials, would mean for a designer to sacrifice his ideals. As a result, Morris came to the conclusion that the transformation of the aesthetic side of life also requires transformations of society. According to Morris, impersonal goods produced according to one model lead to the fading of taste and degradation of the people who produce these goods and who consume them. The creation of objects that are not only comfortable, but also pleasant to contemplate, can change the way of life for the better and improve the quality of life of both consumers and creators. The work of producers, according to Morris, is painful and unbearable, since they are deprived of the possibility of creativity.
The activities of Morris and his supporters gave impetus to the emergence of various societies and guilds in the spirit of the Middle Ages, with their own style and specialization. The revival of crafts gained momentum in the 1880s: in 1878, the reorganized company Morris and Co. opened a workshop for the production of carpets and tapestries; three years later, workshops for the production of stained glass, a dyeing shop, and printing production were equipped. In 1883, guilds were founded outside London, in the USA and Australia
Participants in the “arts and crafts” movement were artists, designers, and architects, so the specialization of the society was varied, from furniture to embroidery and jewelry. The works were distinguished by the simplicity of their forms because the laconic design is relevant at all times

as well as plant and animal patterns. Morris and his supporters believed that natural form gave an object a timeless artistic value. It is also interesting that they were inspired by rural flora and fauna, depicting wildflowers and forest animals as opposed to noble roses and lions. The subjects depicted on stained glass windows, wallpaper, carpets, although they seem intricate due to the many small carefully worked details, nevertheless remain understandable to the general public.

The Arts and Crafts movement and the William Morris Company effectively revived the tapestry and restored it to the status that woven rugs had held in the Middle Ages as an important part of the home interior.
Morris studied the art of medieval embroidery and weaving with George Edmund Street and already in 1879, together with Burne-Jones, began creating a series of tapestries dedicated to ancient mythology.

The first to be created was “Flora,” a tapestry dedicated to spring and depicting the Roman goddess of flowering. She is depicted standing barefoot in clothes that combine features of both ancient and medieval costume. Since the ancient Romans called Flora the Mother of Flowers, Morris and Burne-Jones presented the goddess in a wreath of herbs, holding flowers in her hands, which at the same time unite the main image - the figure of Flora - and the background image. The background features a floral motif dominated by dense acanthus leaves. The background is enlivened by animals and exotic birds depicted among the plants. The artists were probably inspired to create the tapestry by the millefiori decorative technique, popular during the 16th century.
It is also impossible not to mention the tapestry-making technique used by the Arts and Crafts participants. Flora was created by weavers William Knad, William Sleet and John Martyn from boards by Burne-Jones. Initially, monochrome sketches were created, in which only the main details were depicted. A full-size color image was then created, with minor details added. To give the effect of shine, wool and silk threads dyed with natural dyes were combined during the weaving process.
It is interesting that in the arts and crafts community, not only professional work, but also amateur work was highly valued. A large role was given to works created by women, because they are the main consumers and decorators of the home.
One of the important figures was Morris's youngest daughter, May, who from 1885 headed the embroidery department. In many studies, her talent often remains in the shadow of the name of her father, one of the key figures of second-generation Pre-Raphaelitism.
However, it was May Morris who played a major role in the resurrection of the art of the so-called. “free-form embroidery”, or free-stitch stitch (artistic satin stitch). At the end of the 19th century. Embroiderers with a bright individual style appeared, creating their works not according to patterns from handicraft albums, but according to their own sketches.

The process involved drawing the outline of a design onto the fabric, which was then filled in with stitches in the form of fine strokes. The alternation of long and short stitches perfectly imitated chiaroscuro and conveyed the texture of the depicted objects. Representatives of the Arts and Crafts movement believed that free-motion embroidery, unlike counted embroidery, best contributed to the self-expression of its creator. The embroidery used silk thread dyed with natural dyes, so the recreated technique contrasted sharply with the Berlin wool embroidery popular in the 19th century.
In addition, May Morris took an active part in the work of the Royal School of Artistic Embroidery, opened in 1872 under the patronage of Princess Helen, the third daughter of Queen Victoria. Initially there were 20 students, but the number of students soon grew to 150. The women who studied at this school mastered various techniques and worked in the royal workshop, creating works for important events associated with the royal family, as well as for cathedrals and temples.
Originating in London, the movement for the revival of manual labor soon spread far beyond the borders of Great Britain, including to Russia and even Japan
Many ideas laid down by the Arts and Crafts movement formed the basis for what appeared at the turn of the 20th century. Art Nouveau style - handicraft, intimacy, simplicity combined with decorativeness. Morris proposed several aspects that are relevant to this day - first of all, a return to manual production of things, which is unique and original. The company Morris and Co., which existed until the beginning of the Second World War, is currently experiencing a revival - products created in the “English style” based on the drawings of William Morris and his associates are once again becoming popular. And following the example of Victorian workshops and guilds, new organizations are being created seeking to revive the traditions of Pre-Raphaelitism in the decorative and applied arts

In recent days, the topic of the youth movement in Russia has become front-page news. Analysts argue about which direction is more promising and who the masses will follow. We decided to talk about the youth movement with one of its pioneers, Ilya Ponomarev, member of the organizing committee of the Youth Left Front

Tell me, in your opinion, what is the reason for such close attention of all political forces to the youth movement that has manifested itself recently?

It seems to me that the reason lies on the surface. In the country, the evolutionary path of development of the political system has practically been exhausted. The democratic management model of the 90s, already not very developed, was destroyed. None of the signs of a democratic state - separation of powers, a system of checks and balances, federalism and local self-government - are expressed in Russia. The branches of government have lost their independence, and political self-realization through parliamentary procedures is impossible.

Hence, expectations for revolutionary changes rose sharply. And they can only be implemented by young people, for obvious reasons. So whoever controls the youth movement will be the next leader of the country.

Who was the pioneer, are you in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation or the NBP? Why did the communists fail to co-opt young people in the 2003 elections?

The NBP is not a youth movement. This is a postmodern aesthetic project of intellectual provocateurs (I use this word in a positive sense), to which many bright and non-trivial personalities had a hand: Limonov, Dugin, Kurekhin, Belkovsky, etc. This is an attempt, and quite successful, to mobilize the most passionate, intellectually and aesthetically dissatisfied part of society (as opposed to the social and economic dissatisfaction that fuels the left). To carry out this mobilization, the NBP uses a bizarre mixture of totalitarian and fascist symbols, geopolitical constructs, primitively understood leftist ideas and national-patriotic demagoguery.

A real youth movement, based on certain ideological and political principles, was, of course, born by different people and in a different way. There were left movements, heirs of the Komsomol - first of all, RKSM Malyarov and his heirs - SKM RF (Komsomol of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation), RKSM (b) (Komsomol RCRP), etc. Independent left-wing groups and tendencies emerged, from anarchists and Trotskyists to anti-globalizationists. These organizations, most of which are now united in a coalition called the Youth Left Front, hold the initiative on the left flank.

The youth liberal project “Youth Apple” has been actively developing over the past year and a half. Now there is a strong feeling that apart from the MMY and a group of retired politicians, the liberals have nothing.

There is also a project of Putin’s Red Guards - “Walking Together”, which, although they are held together on a financial basis, have a certain system of views and principles. I think that the organizations I have listed are the field that can be defined as a modern youth movement. Moreover, traditional political parties (neither the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, nor Yabloko, nor United Russia), as a rule, have nothing to do with it.

- Why? Do you think that they (the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, United Russia and Yabloko) do not know how to work with young people?

It's not a matter of skill. It is my deep conviction that the presence of a “subsidiary” youth organization of the party is a sign of its illness. This is a consequence of the fact that the party itself is not able to offer young people opportunities for self-realization within themselves. But since young people are still needed (someone must distribute leaflets, work “in the field” on election campaigns, etc.), the old politicians create an alternative “pen” for them, protecting themselves from competition, removing at the same time, dividends from the activities of their young supporters. This is the same way that officials came up with “youth policy”, “youth parliaments” - as long as young people do not engage in real politics and do not lay claim to a real parliament.

It ends the same way - either the youth organization becomes a purely bureaucratic cesspool, or it comes into conflict with the party leadership. This happened or is happening with RKSM, and with SCM, and with Youth Yabloko, and with Youth SPS, and with Walking Together.

What, in your opinion, should a youth organization do? What promotions or actions have you been taking lately?

Revolution (laughs).

Seriously, with specific actions - and the more radical and unconventional they are, the more attractive such an organization will look for young people.

You said that the youth organization should be engaged in revolution. But why? Why does it have to be a revolution? Maybe by lobbying the interests of young people who are members of the organization? Maybe by creating additional tools for social mobility? Why do we immediately run into the desire to break everything, and then...?

Because “lobbying” is boring and not interesting for young people (laughs).

In fact, I myself speak about the abnormality of the desire “to the ground, and then.” But only if there is a normal political process in the country, a politician is a profession like any other. Only then can a young person take this path, be elected to government bodies and defend certain interests (including the interests of young people). Now this is impossible not only for young people (although especially for young people), but also in principle. The existing system cannot be changed through elections. Therefore, now the sharply increased influx of young people into political organizations can only be welcomed, because representatives of the older generation do not have enough energy to change the system, while the younger generation does. Moreover, people come to us who do not want to be professional politicians, but want to restore violated justice, create new opportunities for self-realization for everyone, including themselves. Isn't this wonderful?

- What does MLF do? What issues do you solve, what actions do you carry out?

The Left Front actually declared itself in the fall of 2003 with such a non-trivial form of action as flash mobs. We have reinterpreted this Western trend for waging political struggle. In our version, these were theatrical targeted events and performances. They are filled with certain symbols, often shocking, and with a relatively small number of participants they attract significant media attention and allow them to bypass legal obstacles (fortunately, the Duma has not yet adopted a law on flash mobs). Such actions as “Aurora shot”, “Matrix.Revolution”, “Vova, go home”, “March of those who voted for Putin” took place in a number of regions and had a significant resonance.

Now, however, such actions do not occur so often in our structures - because we have moved from the task of attracting attention to ourselves to systematic work. The increased number of activists, well-established organizational mechanisms, and most importantly, a large number of places to apply efforts given to us by the authorities, allows this. There can be many examples of such activities.

Firstly, these are street actions. We, of course, cannot claim that we are able to independently organize multi-thousand performances like those that swept across the country in January-February. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, youth leaders stood at the head of the masses of protesters, since they were the only political figures who were ready for any action, as well as to formalize the demands of the protesters not in the form of abstract resolutions of rallies, but in the form of specific demands from specific power structures. In many places, thanks to the young left, the protests were a tangible success.

For example, in Krasnoyarsk, electricity consumption standards have been increased by 50%. In Tver, the increase in tariffs for housing and communal services has been cancelled. In Perm, Governor Chirkunov was taken hostage, after which the authorities made significant concessions to monetize benefits. Similarly, the first vice-governor of the Krasnodar Territory, Akhedzhak, was captured. In the Altai Territory, Tomsk Region, and several other regions, young communists were in the forefront of the assault on regional administrations.

Secondly, the labor and trade union movement. The first successes were last year. With the support of our organizations and trade unions friendly to the MLF (primarily the VKT - the All-Russian Confederation of Labor, which includes the Norilsk Nickel trade union, the AvtoVAZ trade union, the Moscow Metro trade union, and the Independent Miners' Trade Union), a number of concrete results have been achieved.

At the largest mining enterprise in the Murmansk region in the fall, SCM organized a strike, as a result of which wages were raised for all employees of the plant and the process of revising working conditions began. The latest example is in a tough confrontation with one of the leaders of the Moscow construction market, in which the owners allowed themselves not to pay people's wages for 6 months; yesterday the rebel workers achieved a complete victory. Their actions were led by the Revolutionary Workers' Party (RWP) and also by the SCM.

At the same time, it must be said that we should not completely abandon “traditional” political actions. For example, regional organizations that are members of the ILF have more than successfully participated in a number of election campaigns. We set a whole series of “records” for the youngest elected politicians, starting with 18-year-old Maria Marusenko, who became a deputy of the municipal assembly in Moscow. There is a 27-year-old mayor, a 28-year-old district head, and a 29-year-old speaker of the regional legislative assembly.

The young left is now taking the initiative in terms of theoretical work on the political, social and economic problems of Russian society, analyzing the state of affairs in the country based on Marxist theory. This is something that the leadership of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, for example, abandoned long ago, and which took the party very far from the principles laid down by its founders. The works of activists of left-wing organizations are regularly published in our press and on the Internet.

You spoke well about the real work of the organization. I myself read a lot about what you do. But at the same time, you must admit that you are on the media periphery. Because primacy is given to members of the NBP, who may have some right to this, and to Youth Yabloko, a structure, in my opinion, rather amorphous and not noticed for participation in serious actions. Why did this situation arise?

Because the NBP and MMYA, with all due respect to their activists, are safe.

The NBP is safe because it is not a project that can claim power - for many reasons. In addition, you can always “come to an agreement” with Limonov. But this organization has no ideology, and allied relations begin and end around the simple idea of removing Putin. Moreover, the existence of the NBP is directly beneficial to the authorities, because with the help of National Bolshevik symbols it is possible to discredit any oppositionist, just as Yushchenko was very successfully discredited by the alliance with the UNA-UNSO. "These are fascists, Nazis, don't you see?"

MMYA is safe because it also sees its goal as the fight against personified evil in the form of Putin. It does not want to change the social system, and the radicalism of this organization is rather a form of youthful maximalism. The most radical in spirit is the leader of this structure, Ilya Yashin, but he is not yet ready to put forward a slogan about changing the system.

Finally, both movements are not essentially mass movements. These are activist organizations that can carry out actions of any degree of “frostbite” (which most of the “2008 committee members” are hardly capable of on their own), but which will never raise a protest from the broad masses that is mortally dangerous for the bourgeois system. Therefore, the NBP and MMYA become the darlings of the liberal press.

Look at all the examples of "orange revolutions" in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, Zimbabwe and other places. There are no analogues of “Pora”, “Kmara”, “Otpor”, etc. did not come to power, even in the person of some of their representatives. They were always built the same way as the NBP or MMYA, and that is why it was easy to get rid of them as soon as their sponsors solved their political problems. Without a doubt, this will not work with us.

The left movement has a different class and social nature. The promotion of his ideas poses a systemic danger for both sides of the confrontation - both for the authorities and for the new Russian “orange”. Therefore, when the press even writes about our actions, they are constantly attributed to someone else, either the NBP or the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (which is also quite safe in its current state, although for a different reason).

Of course, there are also purely technological problems on our part. The constant lack of money, the inability to maintain a normal press service, as well as the deep internal skepticism of many activists towards what they consider to be biased media also play a role.

Finally, the shortage of its own media (which occurs for the same financial reason) is extremely hampering - but here, I think, the situation will soon begin to change.

Where do youth movements get their funds from? Where does the money come from, for example, from MMY, where does your organization get the money? There are persistent rumors that both the NBP and the MMYA are sponsored by Berezovsky. Have you also been repeatedly reproached for having connections with a London oppositionist? In general, how much money does a youth movement with several hundred activists need for a month, subject to active work?

All of us, including NBP, MMYA, and MLF, in my opinion, do not have much money. The NBP makes money from the sale of its newspaper "Limonka". MMY receives something from the party. The ILF is actually sponsored by the Institute of Globalization Problems, which conducts a number of custom analytical works in Moscow and the regions.

As for the "London oppositionists". I think that in the current political situation in Russia, everyone communicates with everyone. According to my information, even Limonov has contacts with the Administration, and with the 2008 Committee, and with the Motherland, and with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and with individual oligarchs. Probably, in some cases this has a mutually beneficial basis. But this does not mean that one of them completely controls it.

The point is also that my experience of working in large Russian companies shows that their owners think very specifically, and in time intervals of a maximum of 6 months. That is, if one of the oppositionists comes to Berezovsky with a clear business plan for coming to power in six months, he will probably receive money. Now all the talk about financing someone by international Zionist-Masonic-oligarchic-imperialist circles is personal PR for those who lead them. In general, it’s like getting a loan from a bank - it will then be given to someone who proves that he doesn’t need this money at all.

By the way, according to my information, contrary to frightening rumors and figures, the same Yushchenko in Ukraine received through international channels a very small part of the funds, compared to what he spent on his election campaign.

And this is all despite the fact that in general politics is not the most expensive direction, unless, of course, you invest your money wisely. And youth movements are even more low-budget - no one claims a salary, everyone works for an idea, only relatively small funds are needed to ensure internal communications, information support and consumables. In general, pennies. Even the expelled oligarchs spend orders of magnitude more on projects that are absolutely meaningless from a strategic point of view.

- What “costly” projects are you talking about?

Well, for example, with the funds that were spent on the Khakamada 2004 election campaign, it would be possible to support the MLF for at least three years with a sharp increase in the number and quality of shares.

Just think, how much money was spent during pensioner promotions in January? I think about 50 thousand dollars for the whole country (if you count everything that different organizations and parties spent on sound, banners, leaflets, etc.). And the effect is colossal. And this amount is just the salary of some famous liberal journalist. How much did the failed Citizens' Congress in December end up costing?

You never know how many stupid things are being done... Every “London oppositionist” spends 10-15 million dollars a year, but there’s not much sense in sight? Only the same fighters in the Kremlin tremble - fear has big eyes. It seems that the only point in spending this money is for internal Kremlin PR...

- Do you see space in the youth movement for a statist detachment, the same “Nashi”, for example?

Young people cannot support power - it is unnatural. If you are for power, go into business, go to work in government agencies, why hold a rally?

That is why “Walking Together” for Putin was replaced with the more abstract “Ours”. They are not for power - they are against the "fifth column". Their potential as hunyyibins is more than significant. This is the genie that the authorities themselves will not be able to control later. But whoever thinks about this today - the planning horizon in power is no longer than that of the oligarchs, still the same 6 months. During this time, “Ours” are unlikely to win, and many oppositionists can be soaked in toilets. And there's at least a flood...
Interviewed Danilin Pavel