Madeline Barnard Essays (292 words) - Visual Arts, J. M. W. Turner

Madeline Barnard Professor Coffey HS-102-01 4 October 2016 Art of The Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a time where there were advancements changing society in a huge way. This was a start of a new era for many cities, as technology advanced and as the use of natural resources slowly diminished. New developments such as windmills, steam engines, and production lines came out during this new era. With these new products, mass production started to increase. Many of these creations did start to comprise nature by creating smog that spread throughout the nation. With theses, new changes in society, the art changed as well. Painters started to incorporate theses differences into their paintings. J.M.W. Turner was one of the mot recognizable painters in this time. Some of his most famous paintings were the ones focused on how nature as changed throughout the Industrial Revolution. Rain, Steam, and Speed: The Great Western Railway was one his paintings focused on the Industrial Revolution. The strong contrast of light to dark represents a transitional period. Additionally, the bridge in the background embodies the change in time period and how it connects two times periods. The train in the painting represents the new advancement that was made in society, while the smoke coming out of the train represents the downfall of nature. Throughout the painting, you can observe smoke everywhere if you look through the smog you can see a beautiful scenery in the background. By coving that up with smoke I believe he is showing how the new advancements are endangering nature or beauty of the surroundings. Overall I imagine J.M.W. Turner's main idea of this painting was to show how nature was being destroyed by the Industrial advancements.