Art in the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution has impacted mankind in many ways, and has changed both the way that people live and the way they perceive the world around them. The is best reflected in the art of the Industrial Revolution and how it has evolved over time to show how people see industry and the labor that drives industry.
In the 1800’s, mankind began to change, stepping from an agrarian society where farms drove commerce, into the modern age of industry. People began to work all day and night in factories, producing needed materials, but in very bleak and dangerous conditions. As the industry developed, so did artist and their methods of painting, photography, or otherwise. Art became a way for people to express their feelings of and or the industrial revolution. As the industrial era began to “prosper” art began to express how our world and lives began to become a very part of machinery.
As a start, mankind had become dark, bleak, and somewhat dead. Artists began to display this in paintings. For example, artist would use to draw pictures of sunny, bright places and how people were individuals. Now in the industrial era, paintings became dark, skies filled with smoke and smog. Machines had seemed to become the world, and people were displayed as just cogs in the ever growing machine of the industry era. One artist in particular who did this form of art is Diego Rivera. He once did a painting that displayed how someone could become a part of the industry itself. This is because, as we continue to work on machines that work on even bigger parts, we just, as said before, become just a replaceable cog in an even bigger machine.
Paintings did only show how mankind became a meaningless machine, but also how the industry changed the world around us. Before the industry era, the world was covered in beautiful plains and fields. Homes were small, and took up little space. The sun used to shine on people as they worked on warm days, farming plentiful crops. As a result, artists painted people working on fields, using contrast from dark to light, and colorful hues of reds browns, yellows and other colors. However, since the industry era struck, artist drew cities filled with smoke from factories, and smog from trains and engines. The sun didn’t shine, and as a result, very dark colors were used, making the world seem as dark and cold as it was.
Photography was also a big part of art, as cameras came in along with the industry era. Photographers would find people in factories, working with oil, coal, or whatever else there was. If a photo was taken of a small child in ragged clothing a factory, or factory workers would be seen behind them. This depicted that they became a part of the industry, again, like cogs in a machine. Also the photos were black and white, which really brought out the cold and dark feeling given off by this new point in history.
The industry era was a point in history where not only technology had improved, but also a point in time when artists were able to express the dark times we were living in. Artist displayed the bleak and cold times by using contrast in their paintings, with dark to darker colors. With cameras, they were able to capture the true world in all its industrial “glory”. Art is a very important part of life that describes our lives, and gives us the feeling of a cold and dead world in a way we wouldn’t have looked at before.
