Popular Aesthetics of the 19th Century. Ornamental Prints and Pattern Sheets as Actors for Popularization During the 1870s

Abstract

This article seeks to investigate a branch of popular science that emerged during the second half of the 19th century: popular aesthetics. The primary format for popular aesthetics was the illustrated journal, and especially journals engaging in contemporary manufacturing and handicraft. Ornamental prints and pattern sheets functioned as core actors for the popularization of aesthetic knowledge within these kinds of publications. They also function as core actors for the in- vestigation undertaken in this article. Popular aesthetics had its roots in German aesthetic philosophy from the turn of the 19th century onward. It aimed for an engagement with aesthetic notions- and even aesthetic practice-in daily life. It thereby differs from other forms of popularization of the period that mainly aimed at conveying a text-based educa- tion. Popular aesthetics was, via mediation through internationally circulating il- lustrated journals, a movement that had implications far outside the borders of Germany. In this article, two ways of approaching popular aesthetics in Sweden are presented: one from a design and engineering journal, and the other from a women's journal.