The Victorian era was well known for its extravagance and decorative touches. England at the time was ruled under Queen Victoria who played a big part in Victorian fashion and art. During her ruling, England’s technological advances from the Industrial Revolution helped fashion spread across the country. As big advocates of the arts, Prince Albert and Queen Victoria created the Great Exhibition, an international art exhibition that stretched eight miles. It was at the exhibition where textile designers were able to showcase their designs to the world. This created a major shift in fashion. Fashion no longer belonged exclusively to the upper class. Due to the great technology at the time, the mass production of fabrics allowed the middle class to become big consumers of these decorated fabrics. The list of fabrics highly consumed by the middle class included patterned cottons and woven silks.

The Great Exhibition in 1851 led to fashion’s role distinguishing people of certain social classes. The dress, for example, was an essential piece found in every woman’s wardrobe, despite their social class.

There were certain types of dresses dedicated for occasions and certain classes. For example, women of the upper class were expected to wear more conservative dresses compared to women of the middle class. These dresses were stiff as “dropped shoulder lines and corsets” were restrictive. Women in the middle class wore petticoats, corsets, or chemises under their gowns and dresses.

The dresses we associate with the Victorian era were actually skirts with a bodice. The skirt itself was what made the Victorian fashion so remarkable. Skirts at this time were shifting away from the traditional dome shape frame to a more flared silhouette. Flared skirts began to overpower the women’s fashion industry because it accentuated the woman’s waist size, creating an hourglass illusion. This illusion was so idealized by fashion designers that crinoline, a thick type of fabric made of horsehair, was used to help add the needed volume for this skirt. Although elegant looking, the “multi layered petticoat” skirt was not the most comfortable piece of clothing to wear. It no longer made sense to create an article of clothing that was not comfortable to wear for long periods of time.  In the 1850’s “hoop skirts” made designers rethink the construction of the skirt. The hoop skirt provided a nice shape without the weight, unlike the crinoline. The hoop skirt consisted of steel rings of various sizes that was held together by fabric tape. This new innovation enabled skirts to eliminate the amounts of fabric that was used before.

Sources:

https://bellatory.com/fashion-industry/Fashion-History-Victorian-Costume-and-Design-Trends-1837-1900-With-Pictures

http://www.gogmsite.net/early_victorian_-_1837_-_18/queen_victoria/1851_dress_worn_by_queen_vi.html

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/txtn/hd_txtn.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_fashion

https://www.royal.uk/queen-victoria

https://sites.google.com/site/thevictorianmiddleclass/clothing-and-fashion

WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910)

Winslow Homer is an artist I believe first year Idea Program students can resonate with. Homer was an all-american landscape painter and printmaker who started off as a commercial illustrator at the age of 19, as he apprenticed for J. H. Bufford. Afterwards Homer began to specialize in making sheet music covers during his first two years of his career, then eventually he branched into bigger jobs such as working for Harper’s Weekly. Before starting his career, Homer and his family were well off, his uncle had a mansion in Belmont that inspired Homer’s first few works. Attending school at the National Academy of Design in New York, Homer was sent by Harper’s to sketch and draw the Amercian Civil War in 1861-1865. This opportunity transitioned Homer’s illustrated style into the more traditional art form. It was after getting back from the war was when Homer explored more with paints. 

Winslow Homer’s career is a career I aspire to have. It did not seem like it was a struggle for Homer to start his career as an artist due to his apprenticeship with J. H. Bufford. Even so, Homer’s family was well off and had the money to send Homer to study abroad if Harper’s did not send him off to war instead. As for Homer’s paintings, it makes sense as to why Homer was a well renowned landscape artist of his time. As one who has experience with watercolour, it takes a great deal of confidence to use. I say that because unlike oil paint, it is very hard to layer and fix mistakes. However, if used right, watercolour can create an illusion of airiness and movement, which is why I think watercolour suits Homer. What I can depict from Homer’s art style is that it is very free handed, his strokes are painted with assurance. For example, “Fishing Boats, Key West” is a painting of three men fishing on their fishing boats. Homer does not focus on making his painting look life like. Instead Homer focuses on giving off the illusion that the atmosphere is moving.

Sources:

https://www.artic.edu/artists/34988/winslow-homer

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/homr/hd_homr.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow_Homer

JEAN-BAPTISTE CHARDIN (1699-1779)

Jean Baptiste Chardin, master of life drawings, was special as he did not fit into the period of paint style of his time. He did not fit in the category of the Rococo period because he did not use soft colours that displayed scenes of love and entertainment in his paintings. Rather he was a genre painter who painted everyday life. In spite of the fact that Chardin had produced 200 paintings during his 50 year career, Chardin was well admired for his activity amongst the Academy. Chardin had the role of treasurer, to manage finances in the Academy. Chardin by 1770 became ‘Premier peintre du roi’ and took the lead as the highest paid member in the Academy. 

I respect Jean Baptiste Chardin as an artist because he did not feel the need to follow trends during his time period. He stuck with what he was good at and that was life drawings. Chardin reminds me of Baroque artist Jan Steen because one of Chardin’s pieces called Soap Bubbles looks like it was painted in the exact same setting as Steen’s “Rhetoricians at a Window”. Both paintings contain a subject leaned up against the edge of a windowsill. In the top left corners of Chardin and Steen’s paintings includes a vine of leaves of a similar sort. Other than the subject matter, the only difference between the two paintings is for Chardin’s use of muted dark colours, creating a soft hue, whereas Steen’s painting uses tiny pops of colour to emphasize his depicted object, producing the illusion of a more crisp and refined painting.

 Although life drawings are not meant to give off emotion, I find Chardin’s pieces to feel intimate and humble. His brush strokes are soft and somewhat abstract, which creates a nice glow to his pieces. I am not alone in giving my opinion. According to Britannica.com, after Chardin died in 1779, Charles-Nicolas Cochin wrote a letter to Haillet de Couronne about his interaction with Chardin. Cochin asked Chardin “But who told you that one paints with colours?” Chardin’s response was “One uses colours, but one paints with feeling”.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Baptiste-Simeon-Chardin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste-Sim%C3%A9on_Chardin

JEAN CHARDIN: THE GREAT 18TH-CENTURY STILL LIFE PAINTER

Though harshly criticized for being one of the main causes of climate change today, it is no doubt that the Industrial Revolution was the peak of technological advancement, but more specifically fashion. Even with the era gap of over three hundred years, the Industrial Revolution still has a major influence on fashion in the twenty first century. This period in time was what enabled the possibilities of fast fashion. Before this time, clothing was seen as nothing but an expensive necessity. In the 1600’s, Britain’s fashion was seen to be very stiff and conservative. By having the tools such as the “Spinning Jenny” which was a multi-spindle spinning frame, people were able to wear looser and breathable clothing made of cotton. Thinner fabric was achievable through cast iron technology, a highly malleable iron with a low melting point used in a lot of factory machines today. The power in machinery had the capabilities to weave and knit breathable fabrics such as cotton. 

Fashion played a big role in distinguishing the social classes in this time. Unlike the periods before, the clothing made during the Industrial Revolution was a form of self expression and identity.  Anything from colours to patterns, to accessories helped people break free from previous periods of tense and traditional wear. Women started to reject the idea of wearing a tight, structured corset and began to wear a corset that was made of a more flexible material. Some women even freed from the concept of wearing a corset and instead chose to embrace their curved bodies through the lightness of their clothing. Women at the time were beginning to branch away from tradition and explore new ideas with fashion.

In similarity, men’s fashion started to evolve from the influences of the French Revolution in 1789, where Napoleon and Beau Brummell were idolized for their fine tailored suits. Despite the lack of fashion knowledge that these two men had, Napoleon and Beau Brummell were two men who knew how to make an appearance. Napoleon, known as the man who led the French Revolution influenced men’s fashion by dressing him and his army in uniforms that showed nationalistic pride. As for Beau Brummell, he was a dandy who loved wearing tailored suits, linen, and trousers. He did not work directly in the fashion industry but maintained a sharp appearance which changed fashion for most men during the Industrial Revolution. 

It is interesting to see that lots of trends seen in stores today were actually trends that had originated during the Industrial Revolution period. In my personal opinion, I think the Industrial Revolution was one of the best periods in time. Not only were people exploring with ideas of science and technology, people were also exploring new ways of self expression. For me, clothing is a piece of my identity. I dress accordingly to how I feel and it makes me feel confident in knowing that I can show others my personality through another medium other than speech.

Sources:

https://www.blankstyle.com/articles/clothing-and-textiles-industrial-revolution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1795%E2%80%931820_in_Western_fashion

How did Napoleon Change Fashion?

http://www.ooshirts.com/guides/The-Clothing-and-Textile-Revolution.html

JAN STEEN (1626-1679)

Jan Steen was a man who lived an unusual life in comparison to his colleagues. He grew up in Leiden, Holland in 1626, where his father was a brewer who owned a tavern named “The Red Halbert”. Steen was taught by german painter Nicolaes Knupfer who was well known for his “historical and figurative scenes in Utrecht”. As an observer, I can pinpoint characteristics such as composition and use of colour where Steen took influence from Knupfer’s teachings. Unlike other artists who only had one occupation- art, Jan Steen relied on his brewery background as a source of second income where in 1654 he ran a tavern named “De Slang” and opened another after the “Year of Disaster” in 1672. Jan Steen was not rich for most of his lifetime, thus had to compensate through his art, which Steen was able to produce approximately 800 paintings in his career.

By looking at Steen’s work, I can very much tell that he was an artist during the Baroque period. Steen’s works are very good at showing movement, as each of his paintings were mainly influenced by the chaos of social gatherings like in “The Dancing Couple” where a group of people look to be having intoxicated fun at a local bar. “Rhetoricians at a Window” is one of my personal favourites because it shows a strong sense of Steen’s humorous style. It may be because of the man in the back poking his cheek and grinning, or the contrast between the man proudly reading out a story and the man to his right looking in complete boredom, but this painting radiates a fun and playful attitude. Despite the fact that Steen likes to paint more chaotic and fun settings, he has painted a couple serious paintings in his lifetime such as “The Lovesick Maiden”.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-Havickszoon-Steen

https://www.tripimprover.com/blog/rhetoricians-at-the-window-by-jan-steen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Steen