The Daguerreotype

Cameras to take photographs have been used before the early 19th century, since the time of the Renaissance. In those ages a camera known as Camera Obscura was used to project images onto a paper which allowed to photographer to trace it.

Daguerreotype: 1839

Even though many people were working on various techniques for nearly 30 years, 1839, was the dawn of photographic history. Depending on how the light hit the camera, the highly reflective daguerreotype presented either a positive or negative appearance. People would have to pose for their portrait from five minutes to half an hour. This was due to the sensitivity of the photographic plates and the exposure time. The process involved coating a copper plate with silver nitrate which was then sensitized with iodine fumes. When the plate was exposed to light in a camera, it was then developed with mercury fumes and fixed with hyposulphite soda.

http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/Portrait_Exhibit/notes.html

http://www.phototree.com/history.htm

http://history1800s.about.com/od/photography/Photography.htm

Pre-Raphaelites

The Pre-Raphaelites brotherhood were a group of students which banded together to bring back the interest in painting in Britain in 1848. They are called the Pre-Raphaelites because they came before Raphael. They were seven members but there were the three founders which are, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. They were later joined by William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner Their art works where aimed to be simple to bring out a serious and moralistic theme which felt to be more meaningful. The subjects treated were, Legends, Emigration, Prostitution, Religious Reform, Medieval Themes and the Female Beauty. They used a coloring technique which was building up colors through glazes. This would create the effect of light falling on the subject and also create a depth of filed that was limited when using a mixture of colors on a palette. This was done by using bright transparent colors and thin glazes onto a smooth white ground which was most often the canvas. They also reversed the establishment's order of painting - creating background first, and then putting in the figures. Using a graphite pencil they generally worked out directly on canvas. To bring out the fact the paintings were done in oils, a high-gloss varnish was used as a final touch and this also aided in protecting the surface of the art work.

One of the well known paintings of the Pre-Raphelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti is Proserpine shown on the right.

http://painting.about.com/od/oldmastertechniques/a/PreRaphs_techs.htm

http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/prb/1.html

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/prb.html

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/474248/Pre-Raphaelite-Brotherhood

Victorian Furniture and Homes

The Victorian age was a time of elaborate and elegant ideas including rich deep colours and texture. There was a great use of very bold, bright patterns which included styles as flocking, raised designs with velvety textures. It was also noted that there were some Victorian designs which were infused with the Asian-inspired pieces, some of which were folding screens. These showed strongly in their homes where wealthy people built gothic mansions of stone, which has a simple Greek feel to them. Their homes were very elaborate, ornamented and large complex homes. This was not only found in the homes but also in the furniture inside. Victorian designs were full of wealth, excess and luxury. 

This was done by the style of numerous curved, cluttered lines and complexity. For example richly textured upholstered chairs were carved decoratively with a lot of detailed gilding, ornate carvings and other lavished touches. With mechanization it was possible for middle classes to be able to afford objects traditionally associated with the rich. There was a great demand for furniture to be more just for show rather than actually good quality of workmanship which was often hidden by veneer and applied ornaments. It was full of ornamentation but poor quality and had a lot detailed and extravagant, elaborate in design which could feel messy and cluttered

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-victorian-interior-design.htm

http://styles-and-periods.interiordezine.com/period-decoration/victorian/

Impressionism

The art movement of Impressionism originated in France in the last quarter of the 19th century as a reaction against traditional art and its strict rules. It started with the artwork of the French artist Manet, Impression Sunrise. It was the result of a combination and development of many elements from the earlier artists and movements. It was a style of art which was a means to capture the form in a representational artistic style which meant it did not mean it was not of realistic depictions. Impressionism changed art. Their main focus was on the optical light effects which conveyed time. Change in weather and other natural effects. This was a tiring process which requested a lot of observation and endless sketching to try to recreate light itself with paints and brushes. 

Their painting techniques were harshly criticized as being unfinished and seemingly novice quality of brush work. Though they managed to blend complementary primary, secondary and tertiary colors together next to each other to be able to recreate colors which are found in nature; their brushwork was not smooth and was visibly seen. This was due to the fact they began mixing colors right on their canvases instead of their palettes since now they had the availability of tubes of paint which could close. Most impressionistic art works depicted the modern life of Paris.

http://www.impressionism.info/info.html

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-impressionism.htm

http://arthistory.about.com/od/impressionism/a/impressionism_10one.htm

http://arthistory.about.com/od/impressionism/bb/impressionism.htm

Japonisme

A trend known as “Japonisme” emerged in Western Europe in the 1850s and 60s, particularly France. In 1853; two years after the ‘Crystal Palace’; the Japanese reopened their ports and began to trade with the west. As a result there were many Japanese imports that were sent to Europe. “Japonisme” describes the period in which Japanese art; especially woodcut prints; influenced western art. In 1862, a shop opened in Paris which sold Japanese prints made from woodblocks called “The Chinese Gate.”

In Paris, the best Japanese prints could be found. There were so many artists influenced by Japanese prints, for example van Gogh, Mary Cassatt, Gauguin, Whistler, Degas, Monet, Gustav Klimpt, and even the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The fact that these Japanese prints were foreign, unique and that they came from specific elements employed by Japanese painters was admired a lot by artists. One of these elements is the lack of distinction of shading in these Japanese prints. 

Manet like other artists, who were influenced by Japanese prints, began to break down distinctions between depths. In traditional European painting, the distinctions between depths are distinct, so much so that it appears three-dimensional at times. Japanese artists had no regards towards symmetry which was something that defined the western European art a lot.

ThoughArtHistory (2013) ThouArtHistory Available from: http://thouarthistory.blogspot.com/2009/03/japonisme.html [Accessed: 21st March 2013].

The Great Exhibition

The Crystal Palace’ which is known as the home to the Great Exhibition that was an idea which Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, dreamt up to display the wonders of industry and manufacturing from around the modern world. It took place in Hyde Park, London from the first of May to the fifteenth of October in 1851 at which time, England was experiencing a manufacturing boom. It served to bring together exhibits from around the world. It took the form of a massive glass house, about 564 meters long by about 138 meters wide and was constructed from cast iron-frame components and glass.

In the ‘Crystal Palace’, there were roughly 100,000 objects which were displayed along more than ten miles, by over 15,000 contributors. Britain which was the host, occupied half the display space inside, with exhibits from the home country and the Empire. The biggest exhibition of all was the massive hydraulic press that had lifted the metal tubes of a bridge at Bangor invented by Stevenson. The second biggest exhibition in size was a steam-hammer that could with equal accuracy forge the main bearing of a steamship or gently crack an egg. There were also exhibitions of adding machines which had the potential to put bank clerks out of a job. One of the upstairs galleries was walled with stained glass through which the sun streamed in Technicolor. Almost as brilliantly colored were carpets from Axminster and ribbons from Coventry.

The exhibition was intended to raise the level of industrial technology and design and of course to display production and acquire new and larger markets. In the five months it was open for; over six million visitors went to see some fourteen thousand exhibitors, of which Great Britain supplied nearly half.

In modern times, the Great Exhibition is a symbol of the Victorian Age, and its thick catalogue, illustrated with steel engravings, is a primary source for High Victorian design. A memorial to the exhibition, crowned with a statue of Prince Albert, is located behind the Royal Albert Hall. It is inscribed with statistics from the exhibition, including the number of visitors and exhibitors, and the profit made.

BL (2013) British Library Available from: http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/victorians/exhibition/greatexhibition.html     [Accessed: 21st March 2013]. 

KU Libraries (2013) Kenneth Spencer Libraries Available from: http://spencer.lib.ku.edu/exhibits/greatexhibition/contents.htm

[Accessed: 21st March 2013]. 

Romanticism and Realism Contrast

Psyche who is a young Princess recieves a kiss by cupid and this surprises and arouses her as she cannot see him. The myth shown in this painting here, is a love story but also a metaphysical allegory. Psyche sybolizes the human soul. Psyche is a Greek word and it means "soul". This scene which is painted by Gérard symbolizes the the union of the human soul and divine love. The artist has painted a butterfly shown flying over the young woman's head and the insect's name in ancient Greek is also "psyche" therefor it means soul. This is a painting of the Romanticism period as it shows what the people want to see, a perfect female figure, beaty and affection. This painting which was painted in 1798 by Gérard, shows the evolution of neoclassicism towards sensuality and a certain formal abstraction.

Cupid and Psyche

"The Bathers" shows a rather fat woman from behind who is stepping out of a small pool. She is naked but she only has  a thin cloth that covers her lower back side. She is giving her maid a gesture. People objected to its vulgarity and pointlessness. The nudes in paintings of this time were always graceful and classical figures. The nude in "The Bathers" is a more realistic representation of the female body, and this caused the people to dislike it.

The Bathers

The difference between these two time periods of these paintings is that Romanticism portrays what people want to see, giving a good image with grace and beauty. this escapes from the truth. Realism on the other hand shows the true side, the real side of that time. This means it showed all the features as they were lie the woman in the bath. The artists did not hide that women were rather fat or that there was poverty in that time.
http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/cupid-and-psyche-0

http://www.thefileroom.org/documents/dyn/displaycase.cfm/id/1112



The Lunar Society

The Lunar Society was a group of gifted polymaths who met every month in Birmingham on the Monday close to a full moon because there was most light to travel home by, from 1765 until 1813. In the beginning, they called themselves the Lunar Circle, and got the title of Lunar Society' later on in 1775.

These men were not only interested in science, but in the application of science to manufacturing, mining, transportation, education, medicine amongst others. By increasing productive capacity they would be able to transport material to a large extent. They were proud of themselves and organised the meetings to be fun as well as intellectual. This is seen as they used to refer themselves as ‘Lunaticks’.

Matthew Bolton was the man who built up the most famous manufacturing business of the day. He was the one who made James Watt's condensing steam engine possible. He also invented modern, high quality, fraud resistant coinage.

 

Matthew Bolton

James Watt was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, renowned for his improvements in steam engine technology. Not only was he the inventor of the condensing and rotary steam engines but he was also the maker of musical and scientific instruments.

James Watt

They held their meetings in one another's houses, often meeting at Matthew Bolton’s home, Soho House, which is not far from the Jewellery Quarter and is open to the public. The Lunar Society was formally wound up in 1813, by which time only James Keir, James Watt, Edgeworth and Samuel Galton were still alive. They held a lottery to decide who should have their books, which Samuel Galton won. The youngest of the group, he survived until 1832. The rest were all gone by 1820.

Soho House

http://www.jquarter.org.uk/webdisk/morelunar.htm

Art Academy and Polytechnic school

Walter Gropius, who gave his back to the ideals of art and crafts and looked towards machinery and technology, had taken over a school in Germany “Art Academy and Polytechnic school” which is now the educational foundation of today’s art schools. He merged “fine art” and “applied art” into one. He wanted the function of the object to be able to express itself through its own appearance rather than excessively add ornamentation to it. This was done by the possibility to make many new shapes.

Bauhaus believed in design and manufacture that the general public could afford. They also believed that simple functional designs should look good and be aesthetically appealing. Manufactured products should be enjoyed for the way they looked and their functionality, not just for their functional application.

The school was later closed down due to the Nazi regime.

http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/artscrafts1.html

Industrial Revolution

                It is a time where labour moved into town and producing a new business class. Machines were being invented to be able to mass produce. Mass production meant – being able to produce a large quantities of products cheap enough for almost everyone to own.

William Morris was a man who started the arts and crafts movement in the 1861 in Britain. He was against this trend that with the mass produced items, the essence of design was being lost. So Morris had started up his own factory of handcrafted furniture, metalwork, jewellery and so on. Although it was a great idea to involve back design – the design ideas were based on the old styles which were hard to be modernised.

The design used at that time was dependent on the technology available at the time. Most manufacturers didn’t see the need to spend money on making their products ecstatically beautiful due to the little competition and the need to make profitable money.

The role of the Industrial Designer has become very important when it comes to designing products. Internally they all look similar but it’s what’s on the outside which catches the buyer’s eye. Therefore it is up to the designer to be able to turn an item with common parts into something unique and appealing. This can only be done by learning the values of colour, shape and form. Also the functionality and what the user wants.

Although this movement faded by the time of the First World War as mass-produced products were seen more than just surface decorations. Here is where they started to focus on shape, form and colour of the materials then the tiny detailed decor works.

http://www.techitoutuk.com/knowledge/designhistory/historyods.html

http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution

http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/artscrafts1.html

http://www.designhistory.org/Arts_Crafts_pages/IndustrialRevolution.html

Realism

It is defined as the attempt to represent something in the natural world, events and people as truthfully as it appears without artistic conventions, alterations or imagination to how it really is. It has to be purely what it is meaning it is shown as though it was taken photographically.

It began in France and came about in the 1850s. This was after a period where artists moved away from reason and into creating art with historical and realistic accuracy. 

Realism is the rejection of the artistic styles of Romanticism, subjectivism and imagination. The painting must be accurate and be ordinary as observed in the natural world. The ordinary and unexceptional  lives of the middle and lower classes was portrayed by  using this method to attempt to bring out problems, customs, appearances and much more of that time.

Realism is focused on the average everyday common man. This mean the working man was now able to be the subject of art. Realism is a social commentary which was pure and simple just as the humble working men who had not the money to have portraits made for them. This was a time where art was able to depict the ordinary people and their way of living.

http://www.arthistory.net/artstyles/realism/realism1.html

http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/realism.htm

http://www.ducksters.com/history/art/realism.php

http://arthistory.about.com/od/renaissancearthistory/a/Realism-Art-History-101-Basics.htm

Romanticism

It started towards the end of the 18th century. It was at its best in the period around 1800 to the 1900 during a period of a lot of revolutions. It originated in Europe. Though it wasn’t grounded in France nor Italy. It was a movement which spread all across Europe to even later on the United States. It started a revulsion against established values such as; social order, though emphasized means of artistic and intellectual movement.

It is a very wide spread and diverse means of intense personal expression. It wasn’t merely a visual-art movement but also poetical, musical and so on. Romanticism delved in individualism, subjectivism, irrationalism, imagination, emotions and nature. The main focus of ramanticism was on emotion not reason and senses over intellect. Using the artist’s imagination, he could escape the established rules which were too strict, formal and traditional. To be able to explore nature, their passions, their moods, mental potentials and so on in how they perceived it and not how it actually looked realistically but still capturing the essence within. Using this method of expression in arts they investigated human nature and personality, the remote, the occult and so on.

Romanticism was an art with a heart which means it thought people to care about one another while also focusing on individuality and freedom. Not bound or enslaved by the norms of society and the narrow mindedness of organized religion which were too strict and hypocritical. Having the right to have your say supporting the democratic and independence movement. 

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/defining-romanticism-in-the-arts.html

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/romanticism/arthistory_romanticism.html