The Victorian Avant-Garde at the Legion of Honor

Because of the rapid growth of modernism as an artistic movement in the early 1900s, the works of cutting-edge Victorian artists that predated and influenced the subsequent generation were often overshadowed.

John Spencer Stanhope, Love and the Maiden, 1877. Tempera, gold paint and gold leaf on canvas. FAMSF

 

The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde 1860–1900 is an exhibition currently on display at the Legion of Honor museum that explores the works of a small progressive group of artists, poets, painters and architects who had a substantial impact upon fashion, photography and material Victorian culture.

Artists included in the showcase are Dante Gabriel Rossetti, James McNeill Whistler, and Edward Burne-Jones and designers E.W. Godwin, William Morris, and Christopher Dresser.

Work by these artists can be seen at the Legion of Honor until June 17.