Industrial Revolution
The first industrial revolution started in the late 1700’s to the early 1800’s and was primarily confined to the United Kingdom, this created a huge increase in innovative technologies and an increase in mass production which created more employment opportunities for the British people. The industrial revolution quickly began to spread throughout Europe and across the world with companies beginning to mass produce products on a larger scale in various different industries.[1]
The industrial revolution saw a development in new technologies and materials, an increase in the use of fuels and energy sources like coal, diesel and electricity started the creation of automotive and aviation vehicles like planes and helicopters, new materials like iron and steel created more job opportunities for factory workers and new innovations in communication like the telegraph and radio led to society being more connected than ever before.
With the birth of new inventions and technologies like engine powered vehicles, lightbulbs, radio, photography and moving image, these 19th century inventions changed the world as we know it and we are still using and developing these inventions to this day.
19th Century Inventions
The 19th century saw a huge amount of new technology that changed the way we live, with famous investors such as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Nikola Tesla, Lumiere Brothers and Eadweard Muybridge shaping the way we live and pathing the way for our future and how we live today in modern society.
Innovations in photography, moving image, automotive and construction became more common and we started to see an increase in technology across the world. The 19th century was filled with innovative inventions from Thomas Edisons first re-usable lightbulb to Henry Fords first Ford Model T and the Lumiere Brothers first moving picture. These inventors shaped the technologies the we all use today, from cars and transport to film and entertainment.[2]
Although a lot of these technologies have come along way since they were created we are still developing them today, with Telsa working on the electric car and other automotive companies following the same path and hybrid vehicle options the principles and foundations of these inventions originated from the industrial revolution.
Photography
Photography was first seen during the early 1800’s when Joseph Niépce took the first photograph of the courtyard outside of his house in 1826. The image was extremely grainy and didn’t have very distinct features, this is a massive change to what we are used to seeing today with smartphones and DSLR cameras where we have access to high-quality images and 4K cameras.
Just over a decade later in 1938 Louis Daguerre published his own photograph of nature which was a much higher quality and more detailed image in comparison to Joseph Niépce’s image in 1826.
Mathew Brady was a famous photographer renowned for his portraits of American celebrities like Abraham Lincoln and his documentation and photo-journalism of the American civil war.
Moving Image
In the late 1800’s birthed the creation of the movie camera and moving image with the invention of technologies like the zoetrope, mutoscope and thaumatrope to name a few. These inventions changed the way we used images and we began to see an increase in moving images for advertising and entertainment purposes.
Some of the very first examples of moving images dated back to cave paintings where animals were often displayed in motion, moving images are now more accessible than ever due to the increase in technology in modern society where the majority of us have access to a smart phone which is able to capture high-quality video.
The Lumiere Brothers started to explore moving image technology and created the first film production ever made, this led to the use of moving image and film for entertainment and personal pleasure.
Japonisme
Japonisme was a popular art movement throughout the 19th century, first recognised by Philippe Burty in 1872, Japonisme refers to the influence of Japanese art and design in Western countries. The influence of Japanese design began to gain popularity in Europe after trading between Japan and Europe started to increase, traders would often export paintings, cultures and other goods to be sold in Europe. With Japanese art becoming more popular it started to become more popular in other countries reaching western civilisations.
Although the Japonisme art movement was primarily seen in art and design it also influenced other industries like fashion, architecture and landscaping, designers began to draw inspiration from these Japanese artists and implement them into our world through furniture design, housing and our clothing. Japonisme was a huge influence for some of the most famous painters we know today, these are artists that are still recognised and studied in modern society like Vincent van Gogh, William Bradley and Claude Monet.[3]
Arts & Crafts Movement
The arts and crafts design movement is an art movement influenced by fine arts and decorative arts. The movement first appeared throughout Britain in the late 1800’s and started to gain popularity in the 1880’s after spreading as far as Europe and the United States of America, the movement then hit its peak in the early 1900’s where the movement began to lose popularity and the Art Nouveau movement began to take over.[4]
William Morris is a famous artists and designer from the arts and crafts movement who aimed to put emphasise simple and functional design without the use of decorative or ornate features that were often seen in older victorian style design, plant forms were often displayed as two-dimensional shapes and patterns and detailed within raw materials were minimised to enhance the functionality and simplicity of the design. The arts and crafts movement is still a huge influence in the way we design for the modern world and is often considered as a starting point for most modern designers.[5]
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau, French for ‘New Art’, is an international design movement from the late 1800’s, after it became a popular influence in art, product design and architecture in 1890 the movement saw a sharp decrease in popularity around 1910 as designers began to look for inspiration from other styles of design.[6]
The art nouveau movement had a massive influence on graphic arts and architecture throughout the 19th century and inspired some of the most famous architecture we know today. The movement gave inspiration to the gothic cathedrals that are commonly seen throughout Europe and the famous Eiffel Tower drew inspiration from the art nouveau movement. The movement was heavily influenced by the form and structure of plants and took the use of curved forms to a new extreme, designers were using more curved shapes throughout their work and the use of curved glass and stained glass was becoming more popular in addition to the use of asymmetrical shapes and plant-like embellishments. The art nouveau movement had a number of different names throughout different countries across the work and was widely known as the ‘Modern Style’ throughout the United Kingdom after being replaced by the Art Deco movement at the start of the First World War.[7]
The Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art is a renowned design school based in Glasgow, Scotland. The Glasgow School of Arts offers under-graduate and post-graduate courses in architecture, fine art and design and is ranked one the the worlds leading schools for design. The building was designed by the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and constructed in 1896, the building still stands to this day and is considered as one of Glasgow’s most iconic landmarks and is an iconic piece of design from the art nouveau movement. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was heavily influence by modern style and the British art nouveau movement in the late 19th century and displayed this in his design for the Glasgow School of Art. Although the building is still standing to this day, it has had a lot of work and renovation done to it over the century it has been standing. The school had to restore the building due to a fire damage in 2014 and again in 2018 after a second fire broke out in the building.[8]
References & Sources
- Encyclopedia Britannica. 2021. Industrial Revolution – The first Industrial Revolution | Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution/The-first-Industrial-Revolution.
- B. Meggs, P., W. Purvis, A., 2016. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons.
- Wikipedia. 2021. Japonisme – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japonisme.
- Wikipedia. 2021. Arts and Crafts movement – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_movement.
- Tate. 2021. Arts and Crafts – Art Term | Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/arts-and-crafts.
- What does art nouveau mean?. 2021. What does art nouveau mean?. Available at: https://www.definitions.net/definition/art+nouveau.
- Wikipedia. 2021. Art Nouveau – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau.
- Wikipedia. 2021. Glasgow School of Art – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_School_of_Art.