The Industrial Revolution is one of history’s greatest periods of change. Almost no part of Human life was not effected in some way. It changed where people lived, how they survived and even how they saw the world around them. These changes were not all positive and some influential designers and artists fought to keep traditional skills alive, in the Arts and Crafts movement. Most famous of these being William Morris. However no-one could stop the onward march of technological process and design as well as humanity had to adapt.
In this week’s lecture we looked at how the Industrial Revolution, which swept through Western Europe in the mid 19th Century changed the lives of everyone. In particular the effect it had on design, from both those who embraced the change and those who fought against it, to hold on to traditional skills and crafts.
As the period in history which changed the lives of everyone the most. At least until the widespread technological revolution of the late 20th and early 21st Century. There are a lot of different styles and philosophies being developed at this time, as well as many inventions which we still use today, we cannot underestimate the importance of this period in history.
The amount of innovation during this period is simply mind boggling. The social change it caused is still evident today as huge swathes of the population moved from living in the countryside and making a living from subsistence farming, to becoming employees at the new mills and factories as towns, and then cities developed into huge population centres.
Source (https://www.thinglink.com/scene/662668174012973056) Last Accessed 18/10/2022
In the image above you can see just a small number of the inventions that came from the Industrial Revolution, this is by no means a full list, in fact it doesn’t include photography, moving pictures, agricultural machinery or the multitude of other inventions that changed the world.
With such a revolution going on it was only natural that artists, designers and thinkers would be at the forefront of the change. With movements like Japonism, which spawned Impressionism, thas well as anti-industrial revolution movements such as the Arts and Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, back to the Glasgow School, Vienna Secession, Expressionism, and the advent of what we now know as Graphic Design.
Japonism is the mid 19th Century interest in traditional Japanese arts and crafts. Following the reopening of global trade between Japan and the rest of the world in 1853. People in Europe were obsessed with the new aesthetic style of products coming from Japan which was so different to the realistic art style of Europe at the time. The Japanese style was much more paired back showing less realism but still leaving the viewer in no doubt as to what was being depicted.
Source (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434) Last Accessed 18/10/2022
One of the most famous Japanese works of this time was this, Under the Wave off Kanagawa also known as The Great Wave a woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai, as you can see this is clearly not a hyper-realistic image of a wave, but it gives a felling of the strength of the sea and is hugely dynamic, so different to European art of the time, it also includes one of Japan’s most recognisable natural landmarks Mount Fuji, and is one of a series of woodblock prints created by Katsushika Hokusai of different scenes, all including Mount Fuji.
I have always been a fan of this work and Japanese culture in general, it feels even today very different to what we know with its ancient cultural influences, such as Tea Rituals, the Geisha and the history of the Samurai Warriors, I feel you can see how this work not only influenced the western artists of the time such as the Impressionists, but also for me anyway moving way forward to comic book and manga art of today, such an important piece and something that changed the world of art and design.
One of the most famous Impressionists was Claude Monet, a Paris born artist who was the most famous of the Impressionist landscape painters. When I think of Monet I think of the Waterlilies a series of paintings he made near the end of his life while based at his home and gardens at Giverny which he bought in 1883. These paintings are beautiful stunning pieces of fine art, in particular the piece I would most like to visit is the set donated to the French Government in 1918 as a symbol of piece by Monet and on show at the Musee de la Orangerie in Paris as installed to Monet’s plan in 1927, it is a stunning 360 degree piece of art and shows the immense talent of the man, described as a “true Sistine Chapel of Impressionism” by Andre Masson in 1952 it is definitely a bucket list item for me.
