The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde, 1860–1900

http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/legion/exhibitions/cult-beauty-victorian-avant-garde-1860-1900

The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde, 1860–1900, coming to the Legion of Honor on February 18, 2012, is the first major exhibition to explore the unconventional creativity of the British Aesthetic Movement, tracing its evolution from a small circle of progressive artists and poets, through the achievements of innovative painters and architects, to its broad impact on fashion and the middle-class home. Over 180 superb artworks on view express the manifold ways that avant-garde attitudes permeated Victorian material culture: the traditional high art of painting, fashionable trends in architecture and interior decoration, handmade and manufactured furnishings for the “artistic” home, art photography and new modes of dress. The exhibition debuted at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and is currently on view at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The Legion of Honor is the exclusive U.S. venue.