Full Idea
The danger of aestheticism is that the artist who has got nothing to do but make something beautiful hardly knows where to begin or where to end
Gist of Idea
Aestheticism invites artist to create beauty, but with no indication of how to do it
Source
Clive Bell (Art [1913], I.III)
Book Reference
Bell,Clive: 'Art' [nk 2010], p.24
A Reaction
Aestheticism strikes me as the main motivation for art nouveau artifacts, which I love. You start with beautiful lines, and then find ways to implement them. Bell has a point, though!