Nature Into Art - Cultural Transformations In Nineteenth-Century Britain

Nature Into Art: Cultural Transformations in Nineteenth-Century Britain
by Carl R. Woodring · Harvard University Press · 1989

Journey through a century of shifting ideas—from Romantic reverence for nature to art for art’s sake. Woodring charts how Victorians moved from seeing nature as an ethical guide and aesthetic ideal to viewing it as “wasteful and murderous,” especially in the wake of Darwin’s revolutionary vision.

Exploring a rich tapestry of poets (Wordsworth to Wilde), novelists (Mary Shelley, Stevenson, Conrad), painters (Wilkie, the Pre‑Raphaelites, Whistler), and scientists (Darwin, Humboldt), Woodring shows how the sublime and picturesque gave way to irony, realism, aestheticism, and decadence.

Ideal for literature lovers, art historians, cultural critics, and scholars, this 360‑page classic reveals how nineteenth‑century Britain replaced nature’s moral compass with art’s liberating autonomy—and why that transformation still resonates today.

Hardback with paper dust jacket. Very good all round condition with slight fading to dust jacket, although its barely noticable in the scan.

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