Extended Diploma in art and design 2014 : Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution took place from the 18th to the 19th centuries. Before the Industrial Revolution most people lived in rural communities where everything from producing their own food to making furniture and clothing was done in homes. They used hand tools and basic machinery. People had to spend long hours of hard labour to produce simple objects. Even children had to work in order to provide food and shelter for all.

The Industrial Revolution was a period which began in Britain and in a short span of time use of machinery, steam engines and later on the use of locomotives (trains) made Great Britain the workshop of the world.

The development of the spinning machine by Sir Richard Arkwright led directly to the rise of the Industrial Revolution. It became a new world of manufactured products.

The most important changes that brought about the Industrial Revolution were

the invention of machines
the use of steam
The factories

The Industrial Revolution grew more powerful every year as new inventions and manufacturing processes increased productivity and resulted in plentiful jobs. It improved the standard of living for some but it also resulted in bad working conditions for some, with dirty dangerous factories and crowded spaces for living in.

Britain's great deposits of coal and iron are greatly helped the Industrial Revolution .With its colonial power, Britain's colonies could provide raw materials and serve as a market place for the manufactured goods.

The following innovations made the beginning of the Industrial Revolution possible. Textiles, steam power and iron founding.

The development of the spinning machine by Sir Richard Arkwright changed the textile industry.

The improved steam engine invented by James Watt was used to pumping out mines and later applied to power machines.

Improvements in the iron industry came in the early 18th century when Abraham Darby produced pig iron smelted with coke which was previously smelted with charcoal.

The improvements in the industry came from some earlier inventions such as spinning jenny and flying shuttle in the textile industry and the smelting of pig iron with charcoal in the iron industry.

The 19th Century was an era of innovations and revivals.

In 1862, London had the world's first underground railway. The steam engines and the first photography were two other great inventions.

Josiah Wedgwood produced Staffordshire pottery. The factory Etruria was the first to install a steam -engine.

The designer John Nash, re-designed and extended the Royal Pavillion in Brighton between 1815-1823.

Queen Victoria was the reigning queen between 1837-1901. During this time Britain was wealthy and powerful. It was perceived as a Golden Age in the Arts. Works of art were commissioned by the Royalty and the wealthy.

The Victoria and Albert Museum was founded in 1852. It was named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Crystal Palace housed The Great Exhibition of London of 1851. Some 14,000 exhibitors took part. Nearly half of these exhibitors were non-British. Exhibited were around 100,000 objects which included printing presses, textile and agricultural machinery, the early version of the bicycle and sophisticated carriages. Every kind of steam engines and locomotives. Also the biggest exhibit of all was a hydraulic press.

Josia Wedgewood produced Staffordshire pottery.

The 19th Century was an era if innovations and revivals. London had the worlds first underground railways, steam engines and the first photograph.

The Arts became popular. Works of Art were commissioned by the royalty and the wealthy.
Romanticism was one of the first Art movements resulting in response of the Industrial Revolution.

In the 1848 the Pre- Raphaelites were formed and these artists looked back to the art of Raphael.
After 1860 British art returned to the classical both in subject matter and style. Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema created Victorian visions of the antique Greek and Romans 'The Voice of Spring' .
Frederick Leighton turned to classical figures and subjects 'The Athlete wrestling a Python'. Frederic Leitghton was a leading figure in Victorian Art. He was President of the Royal Academy for almost twenty years. He was a classical painter and a great portraitist. He also painted mythological subjects (The Garden of the Hesperides) and works with emphasis on moods and visual pleasures.
(The Painter's Honeymoon and Flaming June).

Realism was another movement which started during this time. Realism artists in contrast to Romanticism focused on interpreting everyday life that lacked both drama and emotion..

Athlete wrestling a Python

David Wilkie was a Scottish painter. He was also a leading British artist. He was a genre, portraitist and a drafts man, His paintings achieved huge success such as The Chelsea Pensioners reading the Waterloo Dispatch (1818-1822).