An Analysis on Key European Art Movements and their Interactions with the Industrial Revolution

Introduction

“Show me an angel and I’ll paint you an angel.” These sarcastic words from French realist painter Gustave Corbet, are representative of attitudes towards art in the Industrial Revolution. In contrast to the heroic images of the past, political and economic changes meant that art no longer served the purpose it had so far. In the late 18th century, Europe was characterized by a series of tumultuous revolutions, the end of which resulted in domination by charismatic military leader, Napoleon Bonaparte. After overcoming the hardship of the Napoleonic wars and conquest by a foreign power, Europe found itself in a new political situation that came with the economic modernization of the Industrial Revolution. These difficult times meant that harmonious Neoclassical art did not serve the changing purpose of art in the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial revolution is described as “a radical change and development in many areas with the development of technology, industrial production and transportation facilities”. This change was reflected by key art movements that sought to capture the true impacts of the Industrial Revolution through the lens of major artists of the time; specifically the movements of romanticism, realism, impressionism, orientalism, and an analysis of historian accounts. While various historians each have their own interpretations of the significance of these art movements and their subjective pieces, they typically focus on an artist’s intended message while creating a piece and thereby do not fully acknowledge the art’s role in specifically reflecting the changes of the Industrial Revolution. This paper seeks to interpret these movements in respect to the Industrial Revolution and its impact on art of the time. By analyzing how European art movements reflect the Industrial revolution from 1815-1914, it is observed that these movements reflect the disadvantages of the industrial world, the desire for emotion alongside modernization, and a curiosity for the unknown that characterized the Industrial revolution.

Romanticism

After the rise of Neoclassicism, an art movement characterized by emphasis on ancient Greek and Roman values, Industrial Revolution artists were in need of a new medium that could better express raw, unfiltered emotion. Romanticism, unlike the name suggests, was the movement artists utilized to portray both the sorrows and the joys of the revolution. Francisco de Goya was one such artist. After being employed as a court artist to capture the horrifying Spanish Civil Wars, Goya created the series The Disasters of War which consists of eighty two images that show, in horrifying detail, the terrible impact of violence. One of the most jarring images, And there’s nothing to be done (Y no hay remedio) depicts a figure resembling Christ awaiting his death as he faces a firing squad. This piece was created by drypoint and etching, allowing for varied intensities of dark and light to create a contrast that best captures the emotional intensity of these war scenes. The central defeated figure conveys a sense of heroism despite his incoming death, through his position as an Alter Christus- another Christ. While some viewers see this composition as a religious message, its purpose is only to represent that even this dying, mangled body, is holy.  In front of the central figure is a traumatically contorted corpse, with his spine twisted and arms and legs in separate directions. Blood and brain matter ooze from his skull, his eyes nothing but empty hollows. Three rifles point at the central figure, giving meaning to the title And there’s nothing to be done. The total composition  represents the horrors of war that are unstoppable, leaving us helpless to its mercy. The uncumbered emotion of the piece is a hallmark of Romanticism, and this piece’s high emotion intensity meant that it was not printed until 35 years after Goya’s death, proving the impact of Romanticism art. This piece not only proves Romanticism as an effective art movement in representing strong emotions associated with the Industrial Revolution, but it also reminds us that the Industrial Revolution's advances came not only in fields like technology and medicine, as it also created more destructive warfare that resulted in such gruesome violence and death. New technologies had the potential to be used in devastating ways, like electrical signaling in the Crimean war, factories allowing for mass production of weapons, and new transportation technologies like the railroad and steam ship for troops to advance more quickly. These advances further contributed to Goya’s idea that there is nothing to be done in the face of modern, technologically advanced war. Thanks to Romanticism, artists like Goya were allowed to reflect their desire for emotion alongside modernization; done were the days of cold greek columns, and Neoclassical simplicity, artists had found a new way of emotional expression necessary for the innovation of the Industrial Revolution. 

Realism

While Romanticism sought to showcase emotions of the Industrial revolution, Realism better captured the day to day lives of Industrial Revolution workers. Gustave Corbet, founder of the Realist movement in France, utilized his skill to show the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the common man. His most famous work, The Stone Breakers, uses realism to depict two male laborers (one old and one young) breaking stone for a new road. Their ripped clothing and dull skin are likely a part of Corbet’s attempt to realistically showcase the struggle of the poor. The piece utilizes drab earth toned coloring that reflects the dreary atmosphere for the laborers. The piece was created only a year after Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel’s noteworthy pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto. This consideration of the poor is reflected heavily in Corbet’s work, as well as other Realist artists. Jean-François Millet, another French realist artist, shows a contrary perspective of realism. His work utilizes idealized peasants, aerial perspective, and unified composition: key differentiators from Corbet’s work. Corbet’s rejection of idealized peasants in his work was due to a desire to represent a pure reality through the tattered clothing worn by the workers. The lack of aerial perspective is intentional, as his purpose was not to draw the viewer into the surrounding scenery but instead bring their focus to the workers, therefore the setting is unremarkable. The singular patch of blue sky in the right hand corner acts as a tiny window to unachievable happiness. Its contrast with the dull colors help show how the workers are economically trapped in this situation. Lastly, Corbet’s disjointed composition is a conscious decision that refuses the standards of exhibition art in Paris salons. The rough brushstrokes mark a definitive move away from polished and refined Neoclassical art. The times have gotten harder, and Corbet needs his composition to reflect this reality. Although some historians simply view Corbet’s unusual composition as a reaction against neoclassicism, his composition is more than a rejection of these art elements. Indeed, his composition is not intended to be a reaction against neoclassicism, instead this is simply a side effect of his goal to show reality. The use of Neoclassical fine art elements can be thought of as adjacent to modern day Instagram filters. Despite the emphasis of these elements of fine art in French salons, Corbet’s fight to portray what is real is what makes him the most representative of realism art symbolic of the Industrial Revolution. His most famous philosophy was that he would paint only what he saw. Contrary to the Renaissance artists of the past, Corbet’s logic was that he did not see flying angels or images of Christ’s crucifixion, instead he saw the pain and suffering of the working class, so that was what he would paint. The use of realism to capture hardships of workers in the Industrial Revolution proves art is not only a representation of beauty but is also a form of activism.

Impressionism

In contrast to the detail of the realist movement, the impressionist movement aimed to focus on the fleeting effects of color and light. The transportation innovations of the Industrial Revolution meant that new railway lines allowed for convenient travel, so many Parisians took trips to the countryside almost every weekend. Suburban and rural leisure life were among the most popular subjects for impressionist painters. A few impressionists preferred to portray rural villagers, but most focused on the vacationing Parisians. The relaxed leisure activities (thanks to the Industrial Revolution) are complemented by Monet’s loose painting style. In contrast to those in the Barbizon school (a realism, nature focused art movement), impressionist painters did not shy away from depicting signs of industrialization such as railways and factories. Impressionist painters also did not fear bright colors, incorporating them in composition without the customary thick gold varnish to tone down the final work. Although some historians believe that the only significance of their use of bright colors was to capture the effects of light and color more effectively, this use of bright pigment actually has a deeper historical meaning; they showed modernity in an artist’s use of materials (not just his composition). Thanks to developments in chemicals due to the Industrial Revolution, artists now had access to new synthetic pigments that allowed for brighter shades of colors that were previously never explored. These bright colors could easily reflect the joys of a Parisian leisurely life, in contrast to the often dull palettes of realism. By utilizing new shades like cerulean blue and synthetic ultramarine, Édouard Manet’s radical 1874 Boating depicts a stylish boater and companion. His piece embodies modernity not only with its subject matter, but also through the materials used to create the piece. By focusing on leisure activities, impressionist art displays the advantages of the Industrial Revolution for the prosperous upper middle class who benefited from the changes. Industrial subject matter was common among impressionist artists, with Claude Monet’s piece La Gare Saint-Lazare a key example. The subject matter is a key train station with intricate geometry, machines, and travellers. While some historians view Monet’s lack of concern for describing these figures and machines in detail as a disadvantage that prevents the viewer from understanding the atmosphere of the setting, this was actually an intentional choice that lends itself well to shift the painting's focus onto the effects of light and color instead of purely on the subject matter (as done by realist artists). The station was the perfect setting, with a modern, industrial subject matter, rising clouds of steam, and changing light and movement. Another painting with industrial subject matter, is Édouard Manet’s Music in the Tuileries Gardens. This piece shows the fashionable elite near Louvre listening to a concert. Although the contemporary subject matter seems unremarkable to the modern viewer, the French Academy did not consider urban life to be a fitting subject of fine art. By portraying this scene, Manet was making a definitive message that modern life “was as heroic and as worthy a subject as any taken from the classical world, that men in frock coats were as brave in their own way as gladiators were in Roman times”, a message supported by his friend Charles Baudelaire, a poet and critic who developed ideas on modernity and the depiction of industrialization in art alongside Manet. By taking the stance that modern life and industrial achievement (of leisure or transportation) were as important as the heroic paintings of the past, impressionist painters bring meaning to industrialization. Overall, the impressionist movement provides a differing perspective of the prosperous upper middle class in face of modernity, through its subject matter and composition materials.

Orientalism

Nevertheless, fine art of this time was not solely limited to accessible, modern subject matter. Orientalism, an art movement characterized by a curiosity for foreign worlds, marks the European perspective on enchanting, faraway lands. To Europeans who had only experienced the modernization of the Industrial Revolution, where work and discipline were commonplace, the idea of an untouched, primitive foreign land acted as an escape for their deepest desires. While some Orientalist artists spent long periods of time studying and living in these foreign cultures, Eugène Delacroix, a french artist, traveled to Spain and North Africa for only a six month journey in which he created many art pieces that reflect the very essence of orientalism. Delacroix’s Fanatics of Tangier highlights key orientalist tropes. The violence and energy of the painting showed a wildness that was often linked to the Orient. The subject matter is a yearly meeting of the Aissaouan brotherhood (group of religious fanatics). Supposedly, Delacroix risked his own life to capture the scene by hiding on a roof of a nearby house amidst the chaos. Delacroix asserts that they became intoxicated while praying, and went through the streets spreading chaos and danger. He goes on to contend that the natives had supernatural abilities, performed enigmatic rites, and radical customs for religious ceremonies such as walking on red coals, eating scorpions, licking hot irons, and walking on sword blades. Delacroix’s observations of the natives seemed to go hand in hand with his art, creating an image of the Orient that spurred enthusiasm for the art movement due to the increased innovation of the Industrial Revolution. As noted by Edward Said, “the Orient was almost a European invention, and had been since antiquity a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences”. Delacroix’s art pieces certainly reflected this idea. If his scenes were not of native violence, chaos, and disturbing traditions, they were ones of sensuality and eroticism of native women; in either regard they sought to appeal to the idea of a primitive society to a European viewer. This idea of an untouched society was especially tantalizing to Europeans of the time, as the Industrial Revolution had stripped the people of their natural desires and replaced them with modernity and efficiency. These Oriental art subject matters were not intended to be purely informative, instead they were created to satisfy curiosity, which can be argued as the main goal of Orientalism, and a key effect that stems from the Industrial Revolution. Orientalism, in this consideration, should not be thought of as a definitive art movement, but instead as an obsession with a primitive fantasy that fixated European artists of the time.

Historiography

Existing historian accounts primarily show concern for each artistic movement’s personal meaning or their goals by creating their pieces. However, these analyses do not account for the impact of the broader time frame in which these pieces are being created; the Industrial Revolution. By connecting existing scholarly views on these artistic movements, with knowledge of Industrial Revolution processes of the time, this paper aims to create synergy between these two brackets of information to truly understand how each respective movement showed a different perspective on the Industrial Revolution. When examining the movement of Romanticism, the primary scholarship emphasizes the techniques used by artists to capture emotion, why they desired more emotional art (in contrast from Neoclassicism of the past), and does not stray from existing interpretations of the art pieces. Many historians content that “[a] sociologist taking up a theme like ‘romantic art’ should endeavor to add nothing new to the subject matter itself ”. This narrow minded perspective prevents historians from synthesizing existing interpretations alongside new understandings of the overall history of the time. Key art historian William Vaughn often contextualizes the leading artists of the Romantic movement alongside other key figures in painting, sculpture, and architecture. By doing so, he adds understanding to how the romantic period shaped art overall, but lacks insight into how the movement reflected the historical processes of the time. When understanding realism, historians tend to center on the fact that the movement breaks away from traditional art subject matter and view this as radical. However, realism is much more radical when one considers artists within the movement who broke away from traditional art conventions on composition, technique, and style that were not considered pre-Industrial Revolution, such as the difference between Corbet and Millet. In this same way, historians often view impressionism’s focus on color and light revolutionary, believing that their change in perspective is what makes this movement distinct. By doing so, they often disregard the importance of the shift of impressionist artists from painting rural countryside scenes, known as painting en plein air, and painting scenes of modernity and industrialization. Finally, many historians do not see the potential interpretation of Orientalism as another form of propaganda. For many Europeans, they have no knowledge on foreign cultures, and are therefore forced to take the artist’s account as reality, since they have traveled to the Orient. There is also a gap in scholarly literature that actively questions that purpose and the reason for the start of the Orientalism movement. This reason is due to a need for escape to modernity and a desire to be brought to a time that resonates with something primitive within. This desire is a key result of the excessive modernization of the Industrial Revolution leading the European people to seek what they do not have. In all, current historical accounts often provide key interpretations of these art movements that fail to identify what makes these movements radical and how they connect to the industrialization of the time. 

Conclusion

Therefore, this paper finds that European art movements of the Industrial Revolution are characterized by the utilization of art as activism by portraying both the benefits and harms of an industrialized society, a necessity for intense emotion that reflects the one's inner feeling despite the emphasis on order and efficiency, and the desire for primitive release in a foreign escape due to excessive modernization. By drawing parallels between historical events and changes in art, new interpretations of art that accommodate the impact of economic and political changes can be found. These interpretations are not only important for a greater understanding of art, but also for history overall of the time, as these art pieces can have insights on the economy, politics, and the public’s perspective in an ever-changing world. Although this paper offers new realizations on European art, it leaves behind new questions that are yet to be explored. To advance understanding on this subject, more work needs to be done on the interactions between each art movement, how they each influenced each other, on the meaning of art as a concept, and the reason for its definition to change throughout time. Those interested should also analyze the architecture movements of the time, explore their connections to their contemporary art movements, and investigate other art movements in the Industrial Revolution not listed in the paper. Perhaps by deepening our understanding of art, we may also enrich our knowledge of the past.

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