1. 1789 1945 2009

1789-1945The Modern Age: from the guillotine to the atomic bomb

part one

1564 Birth of Galileo Galilei and William Shakespeare, death of Michelangelo

1605 Cervantes publishes Don Quixote, Shakespeare writes Macbeth

1607 Founding of Jamestown, Virginia

1610 Galileo Galilei publishes Siderius Nuncio (The Starry Messenger) and challenges the Ptolemaic geocentric view

1621 Weekly Newes, first English newspaper

1687 Isaac Newton publishes the Principia

1704 Isaac Newton publishes Opticks

1740 Masanobu, linear perspective in Ukiyo-e prints

1765 Harunobu, multicolor Ukiyo-e prints

1769 James Watt Patents the steam engine

1776 American Revolution

1789 French Revolution

1789 U.S. Constitution

1793 Execution of Louis XVI by France’s revolutionary government, end of the Ancien Régime

1796 Alois Senefelder invents lithography

1799 Napoleon becomes ruler of France

1800 Lord Stanhope’s cast iron press

1830-32 Hokusai, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

1804 Napoleon crowned emperor of France

1822 Joseph Niepce, first photolithographic print

1826 Joseph Niepce, the first photograph from nature

1835 William Fox Talbot, first photographic negative

1839 Daguerre announces his photographic process

William Fox Talbot announces his photographic process

1844 Samuel Morse invents the telegraph

1844 William Fox Talbot publishes The Pencil of Nature

1848 Karl Marx publishes the Communist Manifesto

1853 Commodore Perry opens Japan

1859 Charles Darwin publishes the Origin of the Species

1861-65 American Civil War—introduces ironclad ships, revolving gun turrets, naval torpedoes and proto-machine guns among other modern military innovations

1870 Franco-Prussian War, first fully industrialized European war makes extensive use of railroads, breech loading rifles, telegraphy, balloon reconnaissance and steel artillery

Tea Serving AutomatonJapanese1700s

Nineteenth Century Inventions and Discoveries

anesthesiaantiseptic surgeryaspirinatomizer (for spraying mists)automobilebarbed wirebenzenebicyclecolor separations for printing (CMYK)commercial extraction of aluminum from bauxitedieseldirigible and Zeppelindynamiteelectric chairelectric generatorelectric lightingelectric motor

elevatorevolutiongasolinegeneticsgerm theoryhelium (first discovered on the surface of the sun through spectrophotometry in 1868) internal combustion engine (gasoline, diesel and alcohol)kerosenelinotypelocomotive and trainmotion picturesnitroglycerineperiodic chart of elementsphonographphotoengravingphotographyprimitive plasticsradio

radioactivityrefrigeration and principles of air conditioningrotary steam pressesscrew propellersewing machineskyscraperspark plugsteam turbine (a technology essential to the invention of the jet engine)steamshipssterile canning (food preservation)stop motion photographysynthetic dyestelegraphtelephonetypewritervacuum bottlesx-rays

Inventions of Military and Political Importance

camouflageconcentration campbreech-loading rifles and artilleryguncottonironclads and steel ships with revolving turretsmachine gunmetal cartridgesobservational balloon with telegraphoperational submarinesrevolverssmokeless powdertorpedoes

Modernism, Modern, Modernity: What Do They Mean?ProgressProcessForm and FunctionSubjectivity and RelativismChange and Revolution

Charles DarwinThe Origin of the Species Through Natural Selection, 1859

Karl MarxThe Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital1. The dictatorship of the proletariat2. Dialectical Materialism3. The elimination of private capital4. The workers must control the means of production5. The end of history6. Imperialism as the highest form of capitalism7. “The opiate of the people”

Friedrich NietzscheBeyond Good and Evil, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The Genealogy of Morals, The Will to Power1. “God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him!”2. Christianity as a “slave morality”3. The Übermensch or Overman, also known as the superman4. “When we hear the ancient bells growling on a Sunday morning we ask ourselves:

Is it really possible! This, for a Jew, crucified two thousand years ago, who saidhe was God's son? The proof of such a claim is lacking. Certainly the Christianreligion is an antiquity projected into our times from remote prehistory; and thefact that the claim is believed - whereas one is otherwise so strict in examiningpretensions - is perhaps the most ancient piece of this heritage. A god who begetschildren with a mortal woman; a sage who bids men work no more, have no morecourts, but look for the signs of the impending end of the world; a justice thataccepts the innocent as a vicarious sacrifice; someone who orders his disciples todrink his blood; prayers for miraculous interventions; sins perpetrated against agod, atoned for by a god; fear of a beyond to which death is the portal; the form ofthe cross as a symbol in a time that no longer knows the function and ignominy ofthe cross—how ghoulishly all this touches us, as if from the tomb of a primevalpast! Can one believe that such things are still believed?”

5. “Anything which] is a living and not a dying body... will have to be an incarnatewill to power, it will strive to grow, spread, seize, become predominant — notfrom any morality or immorality but because it is living and because life simplyis will to power... 'Exploitation'... belongs to the essence of what lives, as a basicorganic function; it is a consequence of the will to power, which is after all thewill to life.”

6. “There are no facts, only interpretations.”7. “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.”

Competing Social, Political and Economic Philosophies that Influenced the Arts1. Socialism2. Capitalism3. Communism4. Positivism5. Darwinism and its non-Darwinian offshoot, Social Darwinism6. Militarism7. Nationalism8. Imperialism

Terms Essential to an Understanding of Modern Art and SocietyAll definitions drawn from the Oxford American Dictionary

ideologynoun1 ( pl. -gies) a system of ideas and ideals, esp. one that forms the basis of economic orpolitical theory and policy : the ideology of republicanism. the ideas and manner of thinking characteristic of a group, social class, or individual : acritique of bourgeois ideology. archaic visionary speculation, esp. of an unrealistic or idealistic nature.2 archaic the science of ideas; the study of their origin and nature.

teleologynoun ( pl. -gies) Philosophythe explanation of phenomena by the purpose they serve rather than by postulatedcauses.Theology the doctrine of design and purpose in the material world.

dialecticnoun Philosophy (also dialectics) [usu. treated as sing. ]1 the art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions.2 inquiry into metaphysical contradictions and their solutions. the existence or action of opposing social forces, concepts, etc.The ancient Greeks used the term dialectic to refer to various methods of reasoning anddiscussion in order to discover the truth. More recently, Kant applied the term to thecriticism of the contradictions that arise from supposing knowledge of objects beyond thelimits of experience, e.g., the soul. Hegel applied the term to the process of thought bywhich apparent contradictions (which he termed thesis and antithesis) are seen to be partof a higher truth (synthesis).

progressnounforward or onward movement toward a destination : the darkness did not stop myprogress | they failed to make any progress up the narrow estuary. advance or development toward a better, more complete, or more modern condition :we are making progress toward equal rights.

nationalismnounpatriotic feeling, principles, or efforts. an extreme form of this, esp. marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries. advocacy of political independence for a particular country : Palestinian nationalism.Thesaurusnationalismnountheir extreme nationalism was frightening patriotism, patriotic sentiment, flag-waving,xenophobia, chauvinism, jingoism. See notes at chauvinism, jingoism .

imperialismnouna policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force: the struggle against imperialism figurative | French ministers protested at U.S. culturalimperialism.chiefly historical rule by an emperor.

militarismnoun chiefly derogatorythe belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strongmilitary capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote nationalinterests.

positivismnoun Philosophy1 a philosophical system that holds that every rationally justifiable assertion can bescientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and that thereforerejects metaphysics and theism. [ORIGIN: from French positivisme, coined by theFrench philosopher Auguste Comte .] a humanistic religious system founded on this. another term for logical positivism .2 the theory that laws are to be understood as social rules, valid because they are enactedby authority or derive logically from existing decisions, and that ideal or moralconsiderations (e.g., that a rule is unjust) should not limit the scope or operation of thelaw.3 the state or quality of being positive : in this age of illogical positivism, no one wants tosound negative.

social Darwinismnounthe theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws ofnatural selection as plants and animals. Now largely discredited, social Darwinism wasadvocated by Herbert Spencer and others in the late 19th and early 20th centuries andwas used to justify political conservatism, imperialism, and racism and to discourageintervention and reform.

dialectical materialismnounthe Marxist theory (adopted as the official philosophy of the Soviet communists) thatpolitical and historical events result from the conflict of social forces and are interpretableas a series of contradictions and their solutions. The conflict is believed to be caused bymaterial needs.

ontologynounthe branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.

phenomenologynoun Philosophythe science of phenomena as distinct from that of the nature of being.an approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and the objects of directexperience.

Jean-Antoine Watteau1684-1721

Jacques-Louis David1748-1825

Antoine-Laurent et Marie-Anne Lavoisier1788 oil on canvas259 x 196 cm.


The Oath of the Horatii1784 oil on canvas3,30 x 4,25 m.


The Death of Marat1793 oil on canvas


The Death of Socrate1787 oil on canvas129 x 196 cm.


Napoléon Crossing the Saint Bernard Pass1800 oil on canvas260 x 221 cm.


Madame Récamier1800 oil on canvas1,64 x 2,44 m.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres1780-1867

M. Philibert Rivière1805oil on canvas114 x 90 cm.


Napoléon I1806oil on canvas264 x 160 cm.

Gilbert Stuart1755-1828

George Washington1796-1805oil on canvas63 x 60 cm.

Rembrandt Peale

Thomas Jefferson1800oil on canvas


Louis-François BertinJournalist and director of the Journal des Débats1832oil on canvas114 x 94 cm.

Henry Darby1829-1897

Henry Clay1858 (after Clay’sdeath in 1852)oil on canvas125 x 101 cm.

The Industrial Revolution and Photography science, steam and a new way of seeing

Jacques de Vaucanson and Joseph Marie Jacquard

Jacquard Loom

Charles, Third Earl of Stanhope

All-iron Printing Press1800Required one-tenth the manual force required on a wooden press

Friedrich Koenig

First Steam-Powered Printing Press1814“Caused the speed of printing to skyrocketwhile the price dropped considerably”

Model 5 Linotype

Otto Mergenthaler’s invention allowed daily newspapers to expand beyond eight pages and brought down the cost of books

Camera Obscura

Vermeer

The Girl with the Red Hat1665Oil on Panel9.125” x 7.125”

The Camera Lucida

Notice sur l’usage de la chambre claireAccount on the Use of the Camera Lucida1834

Charles Richard Meade

Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre1848

William Henry Fox Talbott

The Open Door1843Salted paper print from a calotype negative

Joseph NiepceThe First Photograph from Nature1826

Louis Jacques DaguerreParis Boulevard1839First Photograph to Include a Human Being

William Henry Fox TalbotView toward Lecco, Oct. 1833“Because Talbot could only capture the basic outlines of the landscape in his camera obscura drawings, he began to research photography.”

William Henry Fox TalbotCameraless Shadow Picture of Flowers1839

William Henry Fox TalbotThe First Photographic Negative1835Made with light-sensitive paper in a camera obscura

William Henry Fox TalbotPrint from the First Photographic Negative

William Henry Fox TalbotPages from The Pencil of Nature1844“This first book to be illustrated entirely with photographs had original prints mounted onto the printed page.Plate VII is a photogram.”

“An ambrotype was a photographic negative whose positive-negative character was reversed by placing black cloth or paper behind it to make the clear areas of the negative black, while the emulsion’s opaque surface reflected light to take on the quality of a dull, positive print.”

Advertisement for Dry Platesc. 1884

Advertisement for the Kodak Camerac. 1889“George Eastman’s camera, simple enough for anyone ‘who can wind a watch,’ played a major role in making photography every person’s art form.”

Attributed from Mathew Brady

Freedmen on the Canal1865Photograph

John Macdonald

Wood Engraving from Freedmen on the Canal

Stephen H. Horgan

Experimental Photoengraving1880“This first halftone printing plate to reproduce a photograph in a newspaper heralded the potential of photography in visual communications.”

Honoré Daumier

“Nadar elevates photography to the level of art,” from The Boulevard, May 25, 1862

Paul Nadar

Nadar Interviewing Chevreul1886“The words spoken by the one-hundred-year-old chemist were recorded below each photograph to produce a visual-verbal record of the interview.”

Mathew Brady

Dunker Church and the Dead1862Photographed after the Battle of Antietam, “the bloodiest battle of the Civil War”

Eadward Muybridge

“Plate published in The Horse in Motion, 1863. Sequence photography proved the ability of graphic images to record time-and-space relationships. Moving images became a possibility.”

Thomas Eakins

John Biglin in a Single Scull1873-74Oil on Canvas24” x 16”

Thomas Eakins

The Agnew Clinic1889Oil on Canvas84” x 118”

Thomas Eakins

Thomas Eakins and Male Nudes at the Site of “Swimming”1884Platinum Print

Thomas Eakins

Swimming1884-85Oil on Canvas27” x 36”

Thomas Eakins

Motion Studies1885

Edgar Degas

Diego Martelli1879Oil on Canvas42” x 39.37”

Edgar Degas

La La at the Cirque Fernando, Paris1879Canvas46” x 30.5”

Edgar Degas

Horses on the Course at Longchamp1873-75Canvas12” x 15.75”

Auguste Renoir

Luncheon of the Boating Party1881Oil on Canvas4’ 3” x 5’ 8”

Claude Monet

Le Pont de l’Europe, Gare St.-Lazare

Louis Ducos du Hauron

Angoulême, France1877Three-color Carbon Print

Technology

1. 1789 1945 2009