Pictorial Shakespeare, 1880-1890 - eTheses Repository - University ...

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the now movement was advocated ac an aid to health; a wviter
in Hie Magazine of Art prepared in 1182 a revolt against "the
tyranny of tlie aodijjt. , whose chief idea is to put as much
material as peccable into a female garment without regard to
convenience or health" ("Fitness and Fashion", V (1882) 336-9).
Certain concessions to decorum had to be made, and I'rc Haweis
in The Art-Jo'.irrir.l, after extolling Greek concern for the
natural lines of the body, reminded her readers:
It is not needful to follov: the ciicpe of
the body servilely, otherv/ioe, one would have
to make "tights" the beau ideal of drees; and
this ,/ould properly not be dress at all, as it
would add r.o thing to nature which dress, v/ith
its contributions of light and Lhadoiv, colour
and texture, is certainly expected to do*
("The Aesthetics of Dress", n.s. XIX
(1880) 137-9; P. 137).
Dress figured .rondr.entl;/ in the galleries of the Health
Exhibition held at South I'enr.in^ton in 1C84, and lecturers in
the ;:rMbition commented on the healthful aspects of the
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freedom modem v.oncn e: 3rcised in their choice of costume.
,/ilde's lectures and pronouncements on dress, delivered for
the most part during the earlier years of the decade, also
proofed, reform on hygeinie us "oil as aesthetic grounds.
In furniture design and interior decoration the leading
talents ncro S.'.V.Gocl-viii and .liistler. The latter »s advocacy
of plain, IvrMonious colour in wall decoration VMS a reaction
against the patt^rno: wallpapers of jorris's deni ; Viy. His ovm
houL-e, i'hs . Uite House, buil jj in .1877-8, v/ns low, threestoreyed,
siaple in ornr::ient"and r-^,:r':,',ble for
ri:he ^'iTite brie.:-, of the walls, tie {;rcen slate of
the roof, the ctone frcin,.-, ^o "blue -loor and
The ,.e:,i.^- and iurnicliin^s of the building V/GIO "by E. V. Godwin,
whom the r.rti^'t act in 1G63* A scheme for rr D'Oyly Carte's
home in A< el;;.hi Terrace had a llTht pin- staircase, and a
yellov; library witii /-reen v.oodv/orl;. Lady Archib lo Campbell,
another of ,histler»s clients, described his --inci^les as
"scicntii'ic":
...to Produce h-raonlouc; effects in lino and
colour' -Duping, tiio .hole r'-':n or ;:cao^c ^.oulr,
h&v- to'be f-iorourjiily taou-.'it oat so as to be
finished boforr. it r^s practically be^un.^,