The Industrial Revolution

1. What and when was the Industrial Revolution?


The era known as the Industrial Revolution was a period in which fundamental changes occurred in agriculture, textile and metal manufacture, transportation, economic policies and the social structure in England. This period is appropriately labeled "revolution," for it thoroughly destroyed the old manner of doing things; yet the term is simultaneously inappropriate, for it connotes abrupt change. The changes that occurred during this period (1760-1850), in fact, occurred gradually. The year 1760 is generally accepted as the "eve" of the Industrial Revolution. In reality, this eve began more than two centuries before this date. The late 18th century and the early l9th century brought to fruition the ideas and discoveries of those who had long passed on, such as, Galileo, Bacon, Descartes and others. (The Industrial Revolution by Joseph A. Montagna, n.d)
2. Research both Modernist paintings in order to comment on the subject matter, form and style used to celebrate the machine and motion in each painting. Answer the question in 2 parts for each painting.


Giacomo Balla, Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, Oil on canvas, (89.9 x 109.9).  a dog on a leash running potraying movement, inspired by leonardo da vinci's drawing 'vitruvian man'.A diagram, showing possible alternative positions for a man's limbs. This image is designed to demonstrate how the human frame can be made to fit within both a circle and a square – just as Vitruvius, the Roman architectural theorist, said it could. Note that this is a drawing. At Da Vinci's date, you wouldn't find this kind of behaviour in a painting. (Great Works: Dynamism of A Dog on a Leash (1912) Giacomo Balla by Tom Bullock,2009).


Umberto Boccioni, The City Rises, Oil on canvas (6 ft 6 1/2 ins x 9 ft 10 1/2 ins). Rough, fast brush strokes, no fine detail. Warm colours used (Red, Orange, Yellows) shows how busy the painting is. Buildings in construction can be seen in the background with smoke coming out of the chimenys but most of the space is occupied by men and horses in the foreground. He emphasises some of the typical elements of futurism. this painting portrays the construction of a new city.




3. Research Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9)  in order to comment on this work in more depth.
i.e what images has she used in her digital collage that refer to China's present and history, and why has she used these.


4. RMB City is described as a utopia/dystopia. Comment on what these terms mean, and how they can be applied to the work.

UTOPIA: literally it means <<place that does not exist>> and describes an imaginary world in which it is effective the social justice and where are underlined the rules and the principles that could guarantee it.

The utopistic narrative involves the descriptions of societies similar to the the author’s one but based on better principles. The author tries to stimulate the reflection of the readers about the differences between reality and fiction with the final purpose of improving reality itself.

DYSTOPIA: the term was coined in the late 19th century by some British philosophers in contraposition with UTOPIA and, like this, it indicates an indefinite world, in which the contradictions of the author’s society brings to a pessimistic vision of the future.

The characteristic elements of this kind of literature are: (Utopia and Dystopia by Matteo, Qian Shuo, and  Yu Lan, n.d)

Utopia and Dystopia are simply imaginary futuristic wolrds. RMB city by Cao Fei can be seen as some kind of Utopia beacause of its futuristic outlook of the future and what it may end up as. The statue in the water shows that the world is flooded, maybe after some massive tsunami or the end of the world. A futuristic city on a small island can also be seen as the re-building of a new world or 'Utopia'.


5. Although the Modernist paintings and the contemporary digital work have emerged from
different contexts, there are also many similarities. Comment on the similarities that you can see in the work. Look at the moving digital image at vimeo.com/4272260, if you have not
already researched it.



 

In the digital work we can see that its busy because of its layout and how it looks and in the painting, the artist use of rough and fast brush strokes to show the busyness and the feel of the painting. Some other similarities are the steam chimneys in the background that can be seen as a typical structure in a city.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-dynamism-of-a-dog-on-a-leash-1912-giacomo-balla-1781174.html
http://www.itiscannizzaro.net/Ianni/booksweb/sito1984/papers/utopiadystopia.htm