The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way. The term ‘Industrial Revolution’ was first popularized by the English economic historian Arnold Toynbee (1852–83) to describe England’s economic development from 1760 to 1840. Since Toynbee’s time the term has been more broadly applied.’. The Industrial Revolution brought us better utilization of crop and cattle; it saw the improvement of manufacture and transport with the invention of the steam engine by Thomas Newcomen together with John Calley in 1712.
Industrialism - An economic and social system based on the development of large-scale industries and marked by the production of large quantities of inexpensive manufactured goods and the concentration of employment in urban factories.’ Industrialism increases the ‘wealth-creating capacity of modern societies compared with traditional systems’
Research Monet's painting 'Impression Sunrise' (1873) to analyze the work in relation to Industrialization.
In the late 1860s, Claude Monet (1840-1926), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) and others painted in a new style, called Impressionism by contemporaries. The name was first used by critics, viewing a new exhibition held in 1874, and was directed precisely — and derisively — at a painting by Monet of a harbor at dawn, which he titled Impression: Sunrise. This painting is a striking example of the new style. How did Monet achieve the effect in this particular painting?
The sun is set against the dawn, the orange color against the gray and the vibrant force of the sun against its motionless surroundings. To many spectators, the sun undulates or pulsates slightly. Why is this so? The sun is nearly the same luminance as the grayish clouds. Notice how the sun nearly disappears if you remove the color. This lack of contrast explains the painting’s eerie quality.
The sun is perceived differently is different parts of our mind. To the more primitive subdivisions of our brain, the sun is nearly invisible. But to the primate subdivision, the sun appears normal. Thus, there is an inconsistency between our perception of the sun in the primitive and primateportions of our brain. The sun is poorly defined and ambiguous to the portion of our brain that carries information about position and movement.
Although it seems that the sun is the brightest spot on the canvas, it is in fact, when measured with a photometer, the same brightness (or luminance) as the sky.
Dr. Margaret Livingstone, a professor of neurobiology at Harvard University, said "If you make a black and white copy of Impression: Sunrise, the Sun disappears [almost] entirely."
If Monet had painted the sun brighter than the clouds (as indeed it is), the painting might be less interesting. If you artificially make the sun brighter or darker (as it is in reality), the primitive brain sees it better. But does that make the painting better or worse?
Olafur Eliasson's 'Weather Project'(2006) is a contemporary work that relates to Monet's famous landscape.The similarity between Olafur Eliasson’s work and Manet’s work is the use of colours, the illusion of the sun and the oversized lamp. The lamps Eliasson used connects to the sun and creates a late afternoon scene almost to sunset. Both Works creates warmth with the use orange, yellow and grey and black and both work seem to concentrate most on the Sun/Lamp; both being in the centre and the brightest.
Resources :
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution)
(http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/monet.html)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olafur_Eliasson#The_weather_project)
Monets painting 'impression sunrise' communicates, to me, early industrial pollution and its interaction with the natural environment. I am surprised that this has not been mentioned in the analysis of the work as it is the first thing that I notice. In the background of the painting I can vaguely make out the silhouettes of cranes/machinery with a thick cloud of smoke lingering above. The colour of the sun almost appears to challenge the grey cloud, its spherical shape is definate in a setting of smudgy, hazy pollutants.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gracias connections made between the Monet and more contemporary work 'Weather project', especially the warmth generated from the focal point (the sun/lamp). The hallway structure leading to the lamp in Weather project is directly connected to the Monet as ironically architecture (building tools, materials, etc) was an indirect development of the industrial revolution. Such grand structure would not have existed without industrialization.
Claude Monet's painting 'impression' relates to the industrial period I think because of what I can see in the horizon of the painting. It looks like there is factories and machinery in the background which was all developed in the industrial period, the small character to the boat also gives a feeling of contrast to the background which shows how during the industrial period machines took over manual labour.
ReplyDeleteI think the two works relate to each other because of the venue where "the weather project' was installed and the background in the 'impression' . 'The weather project' was installed in a power station called Tate Modern which seems like a similar structure to the background of Monets painting, They both also have a distinctive sun in both works.