Criticism after Romanticism: 2. Art for Art's Sake. 3. Impressionism and Subjectivism

Abstract

A lecture on the history of critical ideas and aesthetics after the heyday of Romanticism, during the Victorian period. The movement of Art for Art's sake is here presented with its French origins and an overview of the main ideas on poetics and aesthetics of its main representatives in the Anglophone sphere: Edgar Allan Poe, Walter Pater, and Oscar Wilde. This is followed by an account of Impressionist criticism.

Keywords: Criticism, Aesthetics, Art for Art's sake, Poetics, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde