| Basic Concepts: "Art-for-Art's Sake"
A social sentiment that grew out of the Romantic movement, the "arts-for-arts-sake" concept recognizes the independence of the artist. Morris Peckham of the University of South Carolina has identified the "artist hero" as a role unique to Romanticism. For the first time, the artist chose to isolate his or her activity from the prescribed traditional contexts of art, and artists found themselves uniquely free for the first time to pursue creativity from new perspectives independent of patronage and its dictations. . Online Connections The "Ars Gratia Artis" website offers a source for the term, "Art for Art's Sake," suggesting that perhaps American artist James McNeill Whistler may be the author. See Professor Chris Whitcombe's discussion of art in his fine site, "Art & Artists: Art for Art's Sake." . Our Course Connections No writer in early American literature better represents the latter-day's "art for art's sake" movement than the innovative work of Edgar Allen Poe who created in both poetry and prose the precursor works to so many of the modern movements. .  |