Edwardian Opulence shows that these are merely two points on either end of a spectrum along which new perspectives of art and culture in the Edwardian period may be plotted. According to Angus Trumble, co-curator of the exhibition, "Recalling the immediate accession of his grandfather, King Edward, in 1901, the Duke of Windsor remarked that it was 'as if a Viennese hussar had suddenly burst into an English vicarage,’ yet the same moment heralded the arrival of America as a global economic and political power. Both changes were immediately apparent in the lavishness, variety, and international complexion of British art and design in that brief period."

Lady Curzon's dress from the House of Worth, Paris, ca. 1900-1903. (Courtesy Fashion Museum, Bath and North East Somerset Council)

Edwardian Opulence includes a greater diversity of media than ever before seen in a single exhibition on the subject. On view are combinations of luxury objects from the fine and decorative arts, highlighting the production, consumption, and display of the cultural elite. The opening section of Imperial Splendor features an ornate gown belonging to Lady Curzon, Vicereine of India, together with four lavish fans, the Manchester tiara, and portraits by Sargent and Giovanni Boldini. Grand Design, presents an exploration of the applied arts in Edwardian England, and The Great World, a cluster of portraits. There is a case study on Charles Conder, a British-born artist who spent his early life in India,Australia, and Paris. His nine silk decorations in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery, recently repaired and conserved, have not been shown since 1895, when in Paris they decorated a boudoir in Samuel Bing’s Maison de l’Art Nouveau.

A section on Men of Mark explores portraits of artists, followed by Town — the imperial capital — and Country, the Edwardian sphere of outdoors and sport. The exhibition continues with History, Myth, Pageant,  in which the British attachment to chivalric subject matter persisted among contributors to the annual exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Arts, leading to changing trends in The Problem Picture, a section devoted to the rapid evolution of ideas about social relations. Landscape and Memory  encompasses expanding leisure pursuits, from the novelty of domestic motor tourism as enjoyed by the privileged classes to the rise of the middle-class Sunday outing. The exhibition concludes with a examination of War, Sleep, and Death.

Carl Fabergé's "Bell Push," ca. 1900. (The Royal Collection/HM Queen Elizabeth II)

Through these displays, Edwardian Opulence addresses lingering questions of defining the period’s taste, style, and visual culture, which have been left unanswered by recent scholarship. Ambitious in scope and visually stimulating, the exhibition will unravel, recover, and give new meaning to a relatively brief but important narrative in British art.

Pages: 1 · 2

More Articles

• Julia Sneden Wrote: If The Shoe Fits ... You Can Bet It's Not Fashionable
• Five Articles From British Vogue Concerning Stay-At-Home Grooming - Including for Grey Hair
• Paris 1900 and the Atmosphere of the Belle Epoque Recreated, A Vibrant and Swiftly Changing City
• Prepare for Fashion and Faith At The Legion of Honor; "A painting by Mr. Tissot will be enough for the archeologists of the future to reconstruct our era"
• Memories of Seventies Dublin: As the Decade Moved On, the City Changed and We Were Changing With It; Not All Changes Were Welcome
• Two Exhibits: Veiled Meanings, Fashioning Jewish Dress and Contemporary Muslim Fashions
• Take Note, All Women of the Elastic Generation, Here and Abroad: Lifestyles and Attitudes of British Women Aged Between 53 and 72 About Fashion and Tech
• 100 Pairs of Shoes: Walk This Way Exhibition Includes Stories of Conformity, Independence, Culture, Class, Politics and Performance
• High Society from Cranach to Velázquez and from Rembrandt to Manet at the Rijksmuseum
• Revealing My Age: All Kinds of Factors Are Blabbing My Age to the World at Large