Aestheticism is a movement.
Aestheticism ( also the Aesthetic Movement ) is an intellectual and art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than social-political themes for literature , fine art , music and other arts . This meant that Art from this particular movement focused more on being beautiful rather than having a deeper meaning - ` Art for Art 's sake ' . It was particularly prominent in Europe during the 19th century , supported by notable figures such as Oscar Wilde , but contemporary critics are also associated with the movement , such as Harold Bloom , who has recently argued against projecting social and political ideology onto literary works , which he believes has been a growing problem in humanities departments over the last century . Dada . Developed in reaction to World War I , the Dada movement consisted of artists who rejected the logic , reason , and aestheticism of modern capitalist society , instead expressing nonsense , irrationality , and anti-bourgeois protest in their works .