These are, however, arguments from a past when the developments of modern art still felt contestable, although they are clearly strongly held by some current critics.

The Rossettis Photo Courtesy Tate Britain So, while their influence extends to several interesting strands of modern art, that influence is not central to the development of modern art in the way that Impressionism proved to be and is primarily figurative and literary, in contrast to the abstract and conceptual strands that eventually emerged from the new movements begun by Impressionism. This also connected to their interest in social action and socialism, both of which informed the beginnings of the Arts and Crafts Movement, which sought to democratise the Arts and restore or decorate churches-in addition to the Arts and Crafts Movement, which emerged directly from Pre-Raphaelitism, the Aesthetic Movement, as this exhibition explores, also emerged from their initial revolt. They were aligned with the spirituality of the Oxford Movement with its High Church and Roman Catholic commitments. Their truth-to-nature ethos made them precursors to hyper-realism, while their love of narrative and Symbolism made them precursors of Symbolism. As such, they were medievalists, although with a romantic view of medievalism that has gone on to shape elements of Fantasy Art.

The Pre-Raphaelites wanted to go back to the future – back to the art before Raphael – to create something new in the present. The exhibition seeks to grapple with those paradoxes and that intent shapes its design and movement.Īt the end of the day, Britain’s first avant-garde movement did not kickstart modern art in the way that Impressionism did in France and that is often the principal beef that critics of Pre-Raphaelitism have with it. We also have a tendency to look back critically from within the norms of our time, which, in relation to the Pre-Raphaelites, means that much of their activity looks distinctly patriarchal, although some of what they did and said was emancipatory in its context. Still, their efforts to do so are easily undercut by the breadth of Pre-Raphaelite activity, some of which was undoubtedly radical while some were simply symptomatic of their time. Reviews to date, of The Rossettis exhibition at Tate Britain, until 24 September, has provided both an opportunity for a critique of the Pre-Raphaelites and the design of and premises for this exhibition.Ĭurators have been seeking to rehabilitate the Pre-Raphaelites as revolutionary artists for some time. Critics have a problem with the Pre-Raphaelites.

Christina Rossetti by Susan Owens