It became a rallying cry for the Decadent movement after it was popularized by Théophile Gautier.
The first utterance of this phrase occurred in a conversation contrasting the beliefs of Schelling and Schiller between Henry Crabb Robinson and Benjamin Constant. W.E.B. Du Bois's call for manuscripts for the 1926 Krigwa literary contest emphasized that he disagreed with this phrase and wanted the submissions to ignore it because he was "primarily interested in the earth"; Du Bois's stance on this phrase earned him a reputation as a propagandist during a feud with Claude McKay. Stefan George translated this phrase into German and used it as the motto for his magazine Blätter. The banner above the MGM lion contains a Latin rendering of this phrase, which was first used in English in Swinburne's poem William Blake and a review of William Morris's poetry by Walter Pater. It became a rallying cry for the Decadent movement after it was popularized by Théophile Gautier. For 10 points, name this four-word English phrase, or its three-word French counterpart, signifying that creative endeavor has no purpose but itself.
The first utterance of this phrase occurred in a conversation contrasting the beliefs of Schelling and Schiller between Henry Crabb Robinson and Benjamin Constant.
art for art's sake [or l'art pour l'art; accept Ars gratia artis or kunst für die kunst]