{"id":125454,"date":"2023-01-10T04:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T03:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=125454"},"modified":"2023-01-12T15:10:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T14:10:09","slug":"art-of-the-industrial-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=125454","title":{"rendered":"Art of the Industrial Age"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the most interesting periods in history for many was the period of the Industrial Revolution. It began in the UK in the early 1800s with Europe following on a little later. The coming of the machine age had massive repercussions changing the daily life of all in every sector of society. Important inventions were born, with the advances obtained from the creation of the multi-spinning machine, which greatly optimized textile production, added to the great leap in commerce with the invention of the steam engine, which promoted the improvement of transportation routes, the technology of mass production and distribution began, almost completely replacing manual labour. Yet there is one area less often discussed from this seismic change: The Arts. The invention of the camera for a start meant art had a different purpose, find out more here in Art of the Industrial Age<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Main Image David Mach, The Temple at Tyre, 1994, Installed in Leith, Edinburgh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world of art had begun its change before the camera came along and before industry changed the world. Modern art started it’s probably fair to say, with the Impressionists, Paris-based artists from the early 1860s but also seen in the work of Britain by John Constable in around 1813\u201317. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with the birth of the modern possibilities of manufacturing, say for example paint, that could be mass-produced and sold in tubes as before it had to be mixed daily by the artist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all these changes and modernism, Artists began to question what was the purpose of art. The movements like Impressionism paved the way for art in the modern era. This group of artists represented the world, painting impressions of what they saw in poetic, colourful and expressive images. Fauvism, Dada, Cubism and the Ready Mades by the artist Marcel Duchamp all impacted the world of this creativity. But it was an invention that was the death nail of painted portraits landscapes and even war images that changed everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The invention of photography via the camera was the first catalyst. History began even before the introduction of photography. Cameras evolved from the camera obscura, (a darkened room with a small hole or lens at one side through which an image is projected onto a wall from a second hole).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frenchman Louis Daguerre is usually cited with the invention of the camera in 1839 and gave his name to the first popular form of the photograph, the daguerreotype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst in the UK William Henry Fox Talbot 1834 developed his method of \u2018photogenic drawing\u2019, and then the following year successfully recorded a negative image onto sheer waxed paper sensitized with silver chloride allowing Talbot to produce multiple positive images from the one negative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly artists whose living relied on capturing a ‘moment’ on canvas via oil, obviously over days or weeks were out of work. Because the camera could capture a moment in a moment<\/em>. And so the subjects of paintings began to reflect a new devotion to science and progress. The rapidly changing landscape inspired some to paint and integrate the joy of the industrial world as inspiration<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside this, the ability to create items like cast iron allowed for the manufacture of long beams at a reduced cost. Glass thanks to technical developments made it possible to produce sheets of up to 2.50 x 1.70 meters. Along with cement came a little later and influenced the architecture of the modern world. And it was this visual of cityscapes encased in modernism that influenced one such artist who looked at industrial capabilities as beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Delaunay lived in Paris between 1900 and 1940, and embraced the changes. Best known for his paintings the Eiffel Tower Series<\/em>. His ode to the modern world, coming alive before his very eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Delaunay wrote in his journal, the Eiffel Tower was the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cbarometer of [his] art,\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A symbol of Paris and its success as a modern haven. Delaunay saw the Eiffel Tower as the pride of France as the country stepped boldly into the modern age. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he painted a series of it, his first series between 1909 and 1912 and a second series between 1920 and 1930. Also painted the picture “In honour of Bleriot” which was a dedication to the French Aviator Louis Bleriot who made the first aeroplane flight across the English Channel in 1909.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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