Abstract
Why did British industrial cities build art museums? By exploring the histories of the municipal art museums in Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, Transformative Beauty examines the underlying logic of the Victorian art museum movement. These museums attempted to create a space free from the moral and physical ugliness of industrial capitalism. Deeply engaged with the social criticism of John Ruskin, reformers created a new, prominent urban institution, a domesticated public space that not only aimed to provide refuge from the corrosive effects of industrial society but also pr
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | Stanford |
| Publisher | Stanford University Press |
| Edition | 1st |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-0-8047-8053-7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2012 |
Keywords
- 19th century
- 20th century
- Art and society
- Art and state
- Art museums
- Great Britain
- History