Today during class we covered how to industrial revolution changed art, and how some of the art movements actively worked against it. We began with the introduction of the camera and how it was used back then.
During the industrial revolution, we were given several new inventions that we use still until this day, such as the long-lasting lightbulb, the airplane, a helicopter, the telephone, as well as the camera.
The first permanent photograph was made in 1825 by Joseph Niépce, showing a view from his window over the courtyard of his home, he called his process for “heliography”.
The image itself was very hard to distinguish what it was, you can see shadows and where the sun hit the buildings, creating shapes. 12 to 13 years later, in 1838 they developed a shaper, more distinguishable image of the very same courtyard, with much more clarity and detail.
The camera went from being able to produce mere shapes in a matter of hours, to only for it to be improved to be able to capture an image in great detail a decade later.
Mathew Brady (1822-1896), a photographer, known for his portrait photography of famous characters in history, such as Abraham Lincoln and Edgar Allan Poe, was also the father of photojournalism due to his photography work during the civil war in the United States during the 1860s. This was the very beginning of photojournalism, which is still used to this day.
The evolution of the camera came fast, only 35 years after the first recorded photograph was first made, the camera had moved onto a moving battlefield to document for the public what was going on.
Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), known for his beautiful landscape photography, was hired in 1872 for photographic studies regarding a horse’s movement. He was hired by a man to figure out whether all feet of a horse were off the ground when a horse was throttling and galloping. Muybridge lined up 24 cameras, using a technique where he would pull a string for the cameras to capture the image shortly after one another, captured the horse’s movements, unknowingly making a moving image. An early form of a movie film.
Moving pictures have been around, with the earliest attempts of creating it being ancient cave painting, picturing moving animals with several legs to mimic the movement. There were also during this time, devices made to create a moving image, such as a Zoetrope.
The Lumière Brothers are known to be among the earliest filmmakers in history, with their first screening being on the 22nd of March 1895 in Paris. The film consisted of still images, just like the Muybridge moving picture, with a 17-meter long film that lasted for 50 seconds. In their first screening, they had 10 movies that they showcased. For the movie poster, they used a still image from one of their films, which is until today still used in posters, as well as video thumbnails on Youtube, showcasing either a film or a video.
It is interesting to see how fast we have developed film and how it only continues to grow better and more realistic with today’s technology, it’s hard to believe that it only appeared about 130 years ago.
Japonism
Japonism refers to the incorporation of Japanese art concepts into European art and design, from the French word Japonisme.
Following the reopening of the foreign trade with Japan in 1858, Japanese art and design had a significant influence on European modern art and artists through western Europe, such as Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, and was a source of inspiration for styles like Impressionism post-impressionism and art nouveau.
This type of Japanese printmaking has a significant influence, since the artwork was much more colourful and bright compared to the art in Europe, nor was it staged but had more of an illustrative approach. One factor for the Art Nouveau style during the later 19th century was because of a German art dealer that introduced Japanese art and design to the west.
Arts and crafts movement
The Arts and Crafts movement was a British, later international, art movement, that emerged due to industrialization. They believed that the mass-manufactured goods had removed the authenticity of craftsmanship and the design wasn’t as organic as before. This made artists and designers migrate to rural Britain, establishing workshops, using vernacular or domestic traditions, reviving old techniques. Inspired by the British flora and fauna, and influenced by the Gothic revival during the 19th century.
The arts and crafts philosophy was obtained by Ruskin’s social criticism. He would emphasize the connections between nature, art, and society in his writings, and he thought that machinery was to blame for many social ills, as well that a healthy society depended on skilled and creative workers.
The arts and crafts movement claimed to be concerned about the decrease of real handcrafts, because of industrialization, which had a loss of traditional skills and creativity. Much of this can be seen today when we’re moving towards being more digital, and we’re losing crafts like blacksmithing, jewelry, and so on.
William Morris was an English textile designer and artist. He thought that the industrial revolution lacked artistic merit and dedicated his life to improving the quality of British design. He was a leading member of the arts and crafts movements, known for his pattern designs in fabrics and wallpapers. William was an influence on post-war authors such as Tolkien and helped establish the modern fantasy genre.’
Art Nouveau
Influenced by Japonism and Arts and Crafts movement, was a style of architecture and applied art, especially decorative arts, which was popular in the 1880s to the 1910s. It was inspired by natural forms and structures, and not only on flowers and plants but also curved lines.
One of the most influential Art Nouveau artists was the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha. he produced many paintings and illustrations for advertisements, postcards, and other designs.
He was well known for the advertisement illustrations that he made, for either products or a show. He used a lot of curved lines, circles, and floral illustrations in his works. Combining the beauty of the human anatomy with nature.
The Glasgow school
The Glasgow School was a circle of influential modern artists and designers, that made a highly influential and distinctive contribution to the Art Nouveau movement. The circle consisted of The MacDonald Sisters, Margaret, and Frances. James Herbert MacNair and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, whose work contributed to the Glasgow style.
The advent of Graphic design
Graphic design began to really take hold at the end of the 19th century, with the introduction to the printing press and the mass media starting to appear, one of the key issues was whether artistically designed images could create more business. And due to urbanization, the expansion of printing was huge during the 19th century, the demand for printed ads exploded when people saw the possibility to sell their goods to a wider audience with the help of ads on printed newspapers. The newspapers were a big invention back then because you would otherwise only receive news through another person prior to the printing press.
This is what we had spoken about today, leaving a few bits out, like Peter Behrens, the first industrial designer that was the founder of brand guidelines and corporal brands.
It was interesting to see how we have evolved in the matter of a few decades, and how quickly we moved from handwriting to press, same with art, and how the world influenced Europe in art and design.
Thank you