Fascinating Clutter: American Taste during the Reign of Victoria
The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art
Feb. 1, 2024 - Mar. 31, 2025
“Fascinating Clutter: American Taste during the Reign of Victoria” explores the rich aesthetic landscape of Victorian America. In the 19th century, the young republic of the United States followed Great Britain’s imperial and industrial example and eagerly pursued the romantic trends sparked by her young queen. The reckonings of youth, industry, expansion, and war kindled forms of visual expression in American culture—innocence, nostalgia, mourning, revivalism, and more. Far from its stilted and chaste stereotypes, the Victorian era featured a wide range of styles that emerged from a dynamic environment, one in which modes of personal and artistic expression were transformed on both sides of the Atlantic.