The Colour Craze of the 19th Century - Victorian Art, Fashion and Design

Overview

What you will study

The Colour Craze of the 19th Century - Victorian Art, Fashion and Design course offered by University of Oxford will run concurrently with the Ashmolean exhibition ‘Colour Revolution: Victorian Art, Fashion and Design’ and will be led by the curators and include a visit to the show. 

From dazzling dyes used in corsets and stockings and the flamboyant use of nature's beauty in fashion, to the shimmering splendour of ceramics and bold experiments by avant-garde painters, we will rediscover Victorian society as a vibrant colour-filled era. At the heart of the Victorian colour revolution was the art critic John Ruskin, who played a crucial role in shaping modern debates about colour. Rebelling against the bleakness of his industrial present, Ruskin praised the sacred hues of nature as well as the medieval polychromy of the past. Discussions about colour were not only confined to artistic circles. Scientists explored colour production and perception, and technological innovations such as vivid coal-tar dyes and chromolithography made bright hues available to all sections of society for the first time. 

The International Exhibition of 1862 in London reflected this new fascination for colour. This landmark event celebrated the colours of the past as much as the new hues of modernity. We will also explore the equally influential hues of the East including Egypt, India and Japan. Our journey through the Victorian colour revolution will also consider the use of colour in Aestheticism and take an interdisciplinary approach to consider colour in the work of Decadent authors such as Oscar Wilde, John Addington Symonds and Aubrey Beardsley.