The Industrial Revolution - Essay Example

155124 QUESTION 2: Industrial revolution was famously considered as between 1760 and 1830, when Romanticism was at its peak in writing, art, music and painting. Gone were the days of tragedies and poignant tales and industrial revolution was touching social obligations, structure of family, ruining agricultural economy and household industries like weaving, wool making etc., resulted in major changes in artistic fields as well. Industrial revolution was supposed to have originated from England and spread into other parts of Europe and it was a middle class or bourgeois revolution and limited the role of aristocracy by a definite shift in values. Written in 1800 as the last addition to Lyrical Ballads, Michael is regarded as one of the best pastoral poems of romantic period with the masterly representation by the sage of Romanticism, William Wordsworth. Perhaps the first pastoral of its kind, if taken negatively, it would mean destruction of Luke and Michael both to some extent, as Luke could not live a positive life away from it and Michael could not live without the landscape and his son. The unprecedented evolving of society was diminishing the pastoral lifestyle in the late 18th century, and while mountains and land remained the same, shepherds and their herd were disappearing from the landscape. It was too early for the land to go through a transition, although industrial revolution was taken root in cities and was spilling over to rural space. The story is of Michael, a highly principles shepherd who lived with his wife and son, and had to send the son away to pay a debt on land. Luke was expected to go to industrial city to earn money and return to his land. But Luke fails to do so, falling prey into pitfalls of industrialization and fails to return home with the result that both his doting parents die heartbroken. A real event made Wordsworth to narrate the story with simple pathos. The effect of nature on man is highly evident, manipulating and overpowering him, to such an extent that when he is planted away from familiar space, he would be out of depth like Luke. The effect is powerful, overbearing and unbroken. With the advent of industrial revolution, Nature was losing its precious part, animals, and the continuation of pastoral human life that tended them. But there were choices in front of present generation represented by Luke, who had to choose between land and faraway options and this choice never existed for earlier generations and here industrial revolution becomes an alternative provider. “Though the industrial and agrarian revolutions may not have changed the appearance of the Lake District, they claimed the peasants’ children. And the break-up of the family was a change which Wordsworth felt must be resisted,” John Purkis (1970, p.57. When Michael was written, Britain was already going through the initial days of modernity and was losing her local identities and ecological landscapes. Wordsworth was aware that rural communities were losing their tie with land and were drifting towards cities. . REALISM Realism that reproduced visuals as eye sees it, almost photographic came into prominence in mid 19th century and continued beyond it and still remains as one the most favored form of art. Gustave Courbet who is revered as almost the initiator of Realism was unpredictable in his art. His Burial at Omans is perhaps the most impressive piece connected with the ongoing industrial revolution of the time. http://www.artchive.com/artchive/C/courbet/ornans.jpg.html Industrial Revolution had ushered in a sense of irreverence, acute reality, hardship and indifference in the society. It had defied the conventional piety, respect, honour and devotion and more than that, it has negated the class differences and gender equality is more pronounced with women opting to work. This made women more visible in all places, places of trade, mourning, market, and travel. Industrial revolution had introduced a defiant commonality into the European societies and the above painting depicts the same picture. It is a deep mourning and a sad burial; still a dog is shown in the foreground almost next to the grave bringing down the sense of reverence. Women, children are among mourners and women on the left are in deep gossip almost segregated from the burial. The man in front strikes a casual, almost egoistic pose with a hand languidly placed on his hip, almost proclaiming his detachment and lack of respect. General conversation is continued with absolute irreverence. “contemporary critics were horrified not only by the ordinariness of the subject matter, but also by the starkly anti-heroic composition. Conservative critics hated the work for its focus on common people and for its disrespect for the accepted compositional standards. Instead of arranging figures in a customary pyramid that would indicate a hierarchy of importance, Courbet lined them up in rows across the picture plane-an arrangement he considered more democratic” . http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/quinceorchardhs/art/2000-2001/arthistory/realism/real_impressi.html Those were the days of Napoleon III and his attempt to liberate common people as industrial revolution has necessitated it. IMPRESSIONISM Impressionism started in mid 19th century, mainly with the works of Paris based artists which laid stress on open composition, visible brushstrokes, unusual angles, based on the impression made on artist’s mind. I am choosing Impression Sunrise by Claude Monnet, from which the name of impressionism came into being. http://www.intermonet.com/oeuvre/debuts.htm Monnet limits his brush to glossy points impressed him in the dawn in an almost motionless morning, when Sun is almost merged with the grey clouds, and the painting lacks contrast. It is devoid of exaggeration, a true picture that came into artist’s mind and he has resisted the temptation of dramatizing it. Industrial revolution has reached its peak and beyond around this time, bringing a kind of common totality devoid of individuality in societies. It was an era of insignificance and people thrived on anonymity. Monnet represents total anonymity in this painting and impressionists always rendered not a particular place, but a sensation felt by them looking at a particular place or scene. Monnet looked at the Sun through a cloud of mist and presented in the same way without pausing to create glory. “An interesting detail about the painting is that the color of the Sun has almost exactly the same luminance as that of the sky--which is, of course, not true to nature. This detail however seems to add an eerie quality to the Suns appearance in the painting, making it stand out against the background sky much more prominently than it would have in a more realistic rendering” http://www.answers.com/topic/impression-sunrise During and after industrial revolution, artist’s role had changed due to social, political and economic unprecedented upheavals, and there was an unprecedented awareness that they were responding to time. Revolution and the growth of a new industrial society, grabbing and demanding, which relegated the nobility and gentry to background, brought home harsh realism to art field. During this period, Europe saw many revolutions and this brought revolutionary energy into art. Industrial revolution became part of poetic thinking, art and imagery providing a diverse perspective to writing and art. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Purkis, John (1970), A Preface to Wordsworth, Longman Group Limited, London. 2. Williams, John (2002), William Wordsworth, Palgrave, Hampshire. 3. Wordsworth, Jonathan (1985), Ruined Cottage, Brothers, Michael of William Wordsworth, Cambridge University Press. ONLINE SOURCES: 1. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/INDUSTRY.HTM 2. http://www.jstor.org/view/00393657/ap020117/02a00020/0 3. http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/quinceorchardhs/art/2000-2001/arthistory/realism/real_impressi.html 4. http://www.intermonet.com/oeuvre/debuts.htm 5. http://www.answers.com/topic/impression-sunrise 6. Read More