Art for art’s sake was born in the nineteenth century and was primarily related to the Aesthetic and Decadent movements in England and France, with Walter Pater and his well-known disciple Oscar Wilde as its major proponents. In brief, the phrase asserts that the value of art is ultimately found in itself, in the creation of itself for its own sake. This is in stark contrast to what many have professed is the true purpose of art—to instruct the spectator and/or to impart a moral lesson. Art for art’s sake as a school of thought reacted against the severity of Victorian morality and propriety in the public space. It even dispensed with the philosophical idealism and grandeur of love that was the hallmark of much Romantic contemplation and poetry. Art for art’s sake subverted the proposed moral or didactic objective of art by creating art that was artificial in subject matter as well as medium. Instead of extolling the beauty of love and desire, and of even Nature herself, art for art’s sake (through aestheticism and decadence) revered the masks we wear, pleasured itself at the sight of the painted faces of prostitutes, worshiped the beauty of decay, and desired the blissful oblivion of death.
With this in mind, the questions here are those that the slogan itself raised well over a hundred years ago. Does art have a purpose beyond itself? Does art with an objective mar the beauty of the piece or even rob it of that beauty? If that beauty is separated from the artwork, is it still art? Is the purpose of art to be merely beautiful? Aesthetes and decadents such as myself would surely nod in assent to this question. Does that “beauty” have value enough in itself to validate the creative process and its productions? Or should art only instruct or yield a moral? Can art do both—be itself (beautiful) and convey a message? Should it? Should art serve government, even corporate, ideology and be used to spread propaganda? Should art serve religions as a mode of instilling their rigid dogma into the hearts