Beauty 1889

Curator: Look at the downcast eyes and delicate lines of Edward Burne-Jones' "Beauty," an etching created in 1889. Editor: It's incredibly gentle, almost wistful. The sienna tones and soft hatching create a sense of dreamy contemplation. I imagine the sitter reflecting on something melancholic. Curator: It's interesting you say that. Burne-Jones was deeply involved in the Aesthetic movement. Etchings like these circulated widely in magazines and print portfolios and provided examples of idealised womanhood that would resonate throughout the middle class. The print itself gains significance as an affordable object. Editor: True, but within Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics, these portrayals also carry complex meanings. It challenges traditional beauty standards by favoring introspective and ethereal representations. You have to consider the influence of figures like Rossetti too. The male gaze, of course, plays a huge part in creating an untouchable and tragic female figure. Curator: Definitely. Burne-Jones created imagery for a burgeoning print market; the reproduction of artwork made the creation of celebrity both more widely accessible and easier to disseminate. I see this piece also reacting against industrial modes of artistic production in search of a lost medieval spirit. Editor: Right. Her averted gaze almost feels like a rejection of the viewer, creating a power dynamic where she isn't readily available. A certain refusal to participate that almost borders on resistance in relation to the established artistic and social mores of the era. It raises questions about agency and representation within art. Is she simply being beautiful, or is there something deeper here? Curator: She is, at once, a beautiful image meant for mass consumption as a commercial reproduction, and an incredibly thoughtful presentation on idealized femininity. Her impact exists not only in the art world but the broader sphere of gendered imagery. Editor: For me, this image captures the ambivalent push and pull of societal expectations and individual expression of femininity in the late 19th Century. It resonates across time in its complex depiction of what beauty can signify.