Industrial Revolution

Examples of Industrial Revolution in the following topics:

• Changes in Technology

  • Building materials spawned by the Industrial Revolution, such as iron, steel, and sheet glass, determined new architectural techniques.
  • With the Industrial Revolution, the increasing availability of new building materials such as iron, steel, and sheet glass drove the invention of equally new building techniques.

• Cast-Iron Architecture

  • Cast-iron architecture was a popular style during the Industrial Revolution given its affordability, but it presented major safety issues.
  • Cast-iron architecture was a prominent style in the Industrial Revolution era when cast iron was relatively cheap, and modern steel had not yet been developed.
  • In the early era of the industrial revolution, cast iron was often used in factory construction, in part owing to the misconception that such structures would be fireproof.

• Romanticism

  • Romanticism, fueled by the French Revolution, was a reaction to the scientific rationalism and classicism of the Age of Enlightenment.
  • Though influenced by other artistic and intellectual movements, the ideologies and events of the French Revolution created the primary context from which both Romanticism and the Counter-Enlightenment emerged.
  • Upholding the ideals of the Revolution, Romanticism was a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and also a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.
  • The Industrial Revolution also had an influence on Romanticism, which was in part an escape from modern realities of population growth, urban sprawl, and industrialism.

• Modern Architecture: Form Follows Function

  • The Industrial Revolution introduced and popularized the use of steel, plate glass, as well as mass-produced components in architecture.

• Germany and the United States

  • Truth and accuracy became the goals of many Realists, and their paintings usually depicted people at work, underscoring the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution.

• Photography in America

  • The demand for portraiture that emerged from the middle classes during the Industrial Revolution could not be met in volume and in cost by oil painting, a factor which added to the push for the development of photography.

• Revolution in France

  • During and after the French revolution, the academic system continued to produce artists, but some, like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, explored new and increasingly impressionist styles of painting with thick brushwork.
  • Before the onset of the French Revolution, the middle of the eighteenth century saw a turn to Neoclassicism in France, that is to say a conscious use of Greek and Roman forms and iconography.
  • The French neoclassical style would greatly contribute to the monumentalism of the French revolution.
  • David's paintings are representative not only of the break between Rococo and Neoclassicalism, but also the glorification of republican virtues and revolutionary figures throughout the course of the French Revolution.
  • The French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars brought great changes to the arts in France.

• Modern Chinese Painting

  • The Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 until 1976.
  • One of the stated goals of the Cultural Revolution was to bring an end to the Four Olds—Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas.
  • Traditional themes in art were sidelined the Cultural Revolution, and artists such as Feng Zikai, Shi Lu, and Pan Tianshou were persecuted.
  • Some of the most enduring images of Cultural Revolution come from the poster art.
  • Following the Cultural Revolution, many art schools and professional organizations were reinstated.

• Mexican Muralism

  • In 1921, after the end of the Mexican Revolution, José Vasconcelos was appointed to head the Secretaría de Educación Pública.
  • At the time, most of the Mexican population was illiterate and the government needed a way to promote the ideals of the Mexican Revolution.
  • They are known to have believed that art was the highest form of human expression and a key force in social revolution.
  • The differences among the three have much to do with how each experienced the Mexican Revolution.
  • Unlike other artists, Orozco never glorified the Mexican Revolution, having fought in it, but rather depicted the horrors of this war.

• Painting and Sculpture

  • The French neoclassical style would greatly contribute to the monumentalism of the French Revolution, as typified in the structures La Madeleine Church, which is in the form of a Greek temple, and the mammoth Panthéon (1764-1812) modeled on the ancient Roman Pantheon.
  • During the French Revolution, the Greek and Roman subject matters were also often chosen to promote the values of republicanism over the frivolous Rococo art of the nobility.
  • Hence, there are many paintings that glorify the heroes and martyrs of the French Revolution, such as David's iconic painting of the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat, that are inspired by classical aesthetic forms.