Punch the
British humorous magazine had originally been radical in the 1840's but
soon pitched its contents towards sensible middle class readers, mainly
men. The quality of the writing and imagemaking was often of a highest
order but, as a matter of course, it pitched into the aesthetic movement
from the 1860's onwards for its affectation, its ideals and its seeming
feminisation.
The most sustained attack was on Oscar Wilde, shown corrupt
and overblown.Dumaurier's sequence attacked
the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, although the artist himself had excellent
connections with the main protagonists. See 'anti-aesthetic' section.
BEARDSLEY DRAWINGS |
see
also Harry Furniss's satirical Christmas Cards where Wilde is drawn with
young male company, the Call Boy, Haymarket Theatre as Sleeping Beauty.
George Dumaurier and the Aesthetic Movement
The attack on Art in Punch became obsessive and vicious.
What had it to offer in return? Raven Hill and E.T.Reed, and many unfunny
cartoons about hunting and vicars. |