Susana Sosa, an art history instructor at Fresno City College, gave a lecture on March 7 on “The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde, 1860-1900” as a bonus part to the educational bus excursion program at the Fresno Art Museum.
“The Cult of Beauty” is currently in exhibit at the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, which is its only U.S. stop in its world tour. With the help of the bus excursions, Fresno locals are able to travel and see the exhibit in person. With more than 180 works of art to display, this is the first major exhibit that depicts the British Aesthetic Movement. The exhibit includes works by James McNeill Whistler, Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rosetti. Also included are designers Christopher Dresser, William Morris and E.W. Godwin.
“What’s really good about the show is that it’s very populated with artists,” said Sosa. “Before it just focused on painting and now it shows idealized scenes in furniture and even teapots,” she continued.
Sosa’s lecture is designed to enhance the experience of seeing the exhibit by focusing on certain aspects or areas and progressing in a certain order. In the exhibit, museum-goers tend to start where they please, move in any given direction and focus only on what catches their eye. The lectures give a broad background of the pieces being featured, which is also good if a person does not have time to read the each piece’s description in the exhibit. With the lectures, Sosa is able to provide such museum-goers with context of what they are looking at.
“This gives viewers an inside look as to what it was like in London at the time,” said Sosa.
During her lecture, Sosa interacted with the audience, some of which she knew already. The lecture covered Walter Pater, an important 19th century essayist and art critic, who asked the questions, “What effect does it have on me?” and “Does it give me pleasure, and if so, how?”
Quoting critics of that time period during the lecture only facilitated the understanding one might have for the works of art being shown. Sosa talked about key points in Aestheticism, including the artistic roots of it. She presented the history of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, founded in 1848. This aspect described how the mid-century British searched for a modern style of art that emphasized truthfulness.
Using slides on a PowerPoint presentation, Sosa used specific pieces to exemplify her points. As she showed “The Awakening Conscience” by William Holman Hunt, she encouraged audience participation by asking questions directly to members of the audience. This further proved the point that art should communicate – not just any message, but a message of its time.
Sosa’s second key point was the legacy of the Pre-Raphaelites, introducing Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the story behind his “Beata Beatrix” painting. Under this point, she also talked about 1874’s “Proserpine” by Rossetti, a painting she described as “One of my favorite paintings.”
Other major points she covered were details of James Abbot McNeill Whistler and the first Modern Art Gallery in London in 1877, which was showing Whistler’s “Nocturne in Black and Gold (The Falling Rocket).” Gaining several laughs, this was perhaps the liveliest part to her lecture, as she talked the audience through the court case of 1878-1879, in which Whistler sued John Ruskin and was awarded an amount not even equivalent to $1.
“Ruskin’s idea of looking at art with innocent eyes didn’t really work for him,” said an audience member.
The trial was an important case as it asked the question, “What is art?” and “Can it be decided in court?”
With that, Sosa moved on to Aestheticism’s legacy and its movement from Avant-Garde to the popular, almost describing the same thing that happens today with every new trend that makes its way through society.
“What happens when everyone becomes aestheticized?” asked Sosa, as she ended her lecture with points about Aestheticism in literature.
This is the second time Sosa gives a lecture at the Fresno Art Museum to accompany an art exhibit. This particular show has become a favorite of Sosa’s. She first saw the artists explored in this exhibit at the age of 21 in London through a study abroad program at California State University, Fresno.
“Being able to see it again is like seeing old friends,” Sosa said, “This group of artists really just wanted to make the world beautiful.”
