The Industrial Revolution and the American Style

The reaction of the industrial revolution taken by the Europeans was conditioned by a continuation of both social and economical structures and attitudes. Craft methods of creating products were broadly modified to the production of large quantities of goods that reflected recognition of past traditions both in the form and design. The significant and fundamental changes were done mainly in the scale production of commercial organisation, rather than in the manufacturing techniques for the production of goods. 

Due to the Great Exhibition of 1851 however, around the middle of the nineteenth century, the rest of the world was introduced to new methods of manufacture. It was the United States that founded the fundamental patterns and processes of modern industrial mass-production. These were illustrated by a large-scale manufacture of standardized products, with the use of powered machine tools in a succession of simplified mechanical operations. 

The repercussions of this approach, which became known as the American system, were not constricted only to the methods used for production, but it also affected the whole organization of production, the nature of the work-process, the methods by which goods were marketed, and the type and form of the goods produced.

All this could not have been made possible without the help of Abraham Darby who contributed greatly to the Industrial Revolution. He studied brass manufacture and was able to make improvements in that industry that turned Great Britain into an important brass goods exporter. He developed the process of sand molding and this permitted iron and brass goods to be mass-produced at a lower cost per unit. Before Abraham Darby, brass and iron goods had to be individually cast. His technique allowed for the manufacturing of cast iron and brass goods a continuous process. 

He managed to join the technologies present at the moment of casting iron with brass and this created goods that had a greater complexity and detail. This proved to be important to the creation of the steam engine industry that came later. Darby's casting methods made the production of the iron and brass steam engines possible.

The American system reached its high point of development by the mid-nineteenth century, this time in another area including the production of arms such as revolvers. This occurred with the founding of Samuel Colt’s arsenal. A typical American innovator, Colt, took existing principles and inventions and combined them with a distinctive and effective form. Others have tried, however, Colt’s application of mass-production methods made him more successful.

During those times, society was being bombarded with military forces and a constant series of war was experienced. This resulted in the supply of a large amount of reliable and inexpensive weapons and this is a reason why the American system developed in relation to the production of firearms.

American products were often criticized by European interpretations for their lack of finish and harmony, and also for their use of substitute materials and cheapness. However, the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London marked a turning point in attitude.

The difference between the European and the American style was not limited. The European attitude was built in regards to the craft tradition, in which the products value, both economically and aesthetically dwelled upon the amount of skilled work that was required. The American approach on the other hand, was based upon industrial methods, which focused upon quantity and the harmony of wider sections of the population.

According to George Wallis, who was the head of the Birmingham School of Art and Design, a clear distinction had to be made between the means of production, in which he attributed to the American style, and the goods produced, which he regarded as a reflection of European taste.

The types of manufacture he concentrated on were all from the traditional areas of European decorative art, such as furniture, metal ware, ceramics, glassware and jewelry, in which American producers had to compete with.

A product that many attempts occurred to replace its manual dexterity by the use of machines was the sewing machine. The process of sewing by hand necessitates a constant and subtle relationship between material, hand and eye. Elais Howe who was a skilled mechanic developed a needle with the eye placed at the point. It was then, that the mechanical sewing machine became possible.

Isaac Merrit Singer, was the one who refined the design and by placing the sewing action on a vertical axis, the product was given its ultimate form. Like Samuel Colt Singer, he combined the mechanical inventiveness with commercial talent, realizing the potential of sewing machines, and marked them with unwavering vitality.

The mass-production and sales generated by Singer also brought formal changes in his products. His first machine of 1851 was a very plain, functional mechanism, but the appreciation of the importance of appearance led to hide the mechanism in a pressed, japanned-metal casting which was decorated with stenciled floral patterns. The stand and foot-treadle drive, which were produced as optional extras, also had patterns of scrolls designed to make them more adequate in a domestic location.

The basic form of Singer’s machines was commanded by its mechanical function, but presentation obeyed to what was aesthetically appropriate to the social context in which the machines were used.

Another machine provokes a contrast. This is the typewriter. Similarly, as the sewing machine, the typewriter is a result of a series of development. In 1873 a machine built by Sholes and Glidden, was demonstrated to Philo Remington. Remington was seeking new products, and signed a contract to produce this typewriter. What influenced the design of the product was the work that had been done on the sewing machine which was done by the same engineers.

The American system was well reputable in over twenty industries by 1870, including railroad cars and cutlery. As the industrial growth developed further, the American system spread even more. The expansion of businesses raised the mass-production of simple, and efficient office-furniture.

Not all mass-produced goods were that useful, however many of them still catered as much in relation to the fashionable taste for decoration. This decorative inclination was criticized as a collapse in taste. The European suspicion of machine products was also rooted in Americans through the writings of John Ruskin and William Morris who believed that a product was not worth it if it was not made with the love of a craftsman.

Towards the end of the century, the consciousness of the degree to which mechanization and the American system were affecting a revolution in the environment led to the efforts to arrive at a machine-aesthetic. Frank Lloyd Wright, an architect, was a crucial figure in this formulation. He had worked under Louis Sullivan, whose famous saying ‘form follows function’ was to become one of the great slogans of modern design and architecture and Wright embraced his concept. In a famous lecture that he gave in Chicago in 1901 he showed his positive attitude towards the machine and its potential for its aesthetic expression. According to Wright, through the machine’s tendency to simplify, it could reveal the true nature and beauty of materials.

For Wright, there was no contradiction between individual values and mass-production. He argued that the facility of a better life for everyone and a reduction of human labour were vital for the blossoming of a democratic culture.

Throughout most of the nineteenth century the progress of the American system had emphasized the analysis of objects and mechanism, breaking them down into interchangeable parts and designing them for mechanized mass-production.

Fredrick W.Taylor, who was an engineer, studied work processes where he tried to find the best way in which a task could be performed. This was done in order to maximize production by achieving a standard of working methods. This occurred by timing workers and removing unnecessary movement. What he tried to do was to integrate a human capacity to work with the sequence of a machine operation.

This was a complete rejection of the craft concept of work, which depends upon the skill, judgment and responsibility of individuals. His methods became known as ‘scientific management’ and were widely adopted.

The co-ordination of all work-processes was firstly developed in the production of motorcars. The United States came late in the field of automobile manufacture, but it was here that the low-priced mass-produced car emerged. Early vehicles were individually craft-built in limited quantities. In 1901 Ransome E. Olds began to produce a small lightweight car on a mass-production basis. This achievement captured Henry Ford’s attention.

Ford set out to design a car to cater a car for everyone. The result in 1908 was the ‘Model T’. This car was extremely popular, and Ford and his team set out to produce as cheaply as possible. As a result in 1914 they brought together the fundamental parts of the modern mass-production system: quantity production and a decrease in unit cost. Before production stopped, nearly fifteen million had rolled off the assembly line.

In 1913, Henry Ford installed the first moving assembly line for the mass production of the whole car. His invention managed to deduce the time it took to build a car from more than 12 hours to two hours and 30 minutes.

What Ford did was, he broke the assembly of the car into a number of steps, and then trained his staff to do a particular one. At the same time, he built machines that could stamp out parts automatically. The most important part of Ford's efficiency was the assembly line. Among others, it was inspired by the continuous-flow production methods used by flourmills. Ford installed moving lines for the pieces of the vehicle for the manufacturing process.

People continued to buy the Ford T model, since it served a purpose and catered for a need until somebody stopped and demanded for more. Once this break through started, there was no stopping. This generated the design industry ever since, because the need for design comes from the demand of a change.

Bibliography:

About.com Inventors. Abraham Darby- Iron Revolution. [online] Available at: http://inventors.about.com/od/britishinventions/a/AbrahamDarby.htm [Accessed at 28th October 2013 ]

H History, 1996. Ford's Assembly line. [online] Available at:  
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fords-assembly-line-starts-rolling [Accessed at 28th October 2013]

John Heskett. Industrial Revolution

The Design History Reader:  Grace lees-Maffei and Rebecca Houze

The Industrial Revolution and England

In the society that existed before the Industrial Revolution, natural forces were significant designers. The separation of design from the process of producing the object started before the Industrial revolution, from the late medieval periods of early capitalist industrial organization which was based on crafts methods of production.

The growth of trade in the medieval period was crucial. In the Western European cities, large workshops developed to provide for the sophisticated taste of rich merchants. Many objects of the same type were made, though the process of production was the repetition of existing models by craft methods. Much work produced by these urban craftsmen was of high level of skill and artistry.

Britain in the eighteenth century experienced a rich period for pattern. Josiah Wedgwood’s supreme ornamental ware was influenced by the Neo-Classical style. The artistic success of his ornamental ware was colossal.

The context of his total achievement was due to the fact that the amount of production of useful ware delivered the human, technical and financial resources, without which the demanding production of ornamental ware would not have been possible.

The difference that the Industrial Revolution brought affected this results produced by craftsmen, since this introduction could manufacture and multiply the products with mass-production.  In a lot of ways, industrialization brought more choices, more things one could buy, and more money was generated.

The utmost improvements relating to the productive powers of labour, and skill required, was the effect of the division of labour, introduced in the industrial revolution. This provided for an increase in skill of the workmen and it enabled to save time. This could not have been possible without the invention of a great number of machines facilitating labour. This process resulted in a huge increase of quantity of work.

Furthermore, the Industrial Revolution did not only change the traditional craft production, but as the technological advancements took place, it formed many new industries that applied a mechanical process to production.

Gottfried Semper who was a German architect, described an aesthetic theory that accepted that industrialization was inevitable, and he confronted the complications of the relationship between art and the industry. When he visited the Great Exhibition of the Crystal Palace, he published a booklet in 1852 that was based on the impression he got of what he saw, and like many others he was critical. He acknowledged the divorce between art and the industry but argued that the legacy of the craft tradition before the industrial revolution, had to be swept away before there could be the creation of a new art that was based upon the use of machines. He said that a style was ‘an elevation to artistic significance of the concept of the basic idea’ rather than a collection of forms relating to the particular period. When his theory was recognized, it was applied to universal forms, and this was an irony to the theory itself, since the essential aspects of the reasoning behind it was that design has to cater for a specific need that gave rise to the design and social conditions in which they were produced.

In addition, transport was a crucial aspect in the Industrial Revolution. The creation of railway shows the evolution of design in relation to the new technology. During industrialization, society benefited from railways, and the spread of railways across every country was responsible for the transportation of both the products and the workers.

The Wylam Dilly which was built by Christopher Blackett is a scaled down beam engine on wheels, whose form directly reflects mechanical function.

In the 1870’s the first modern bicycle was created by John Kemp Starley. This creation was a combination of a chain of separate advances into one.  Very quickly, the product established itself with the public and later innovations such as the caliper brakes, variable gearing and air-cushioned tires further improved it, making it the first individual form of mass-transportation. The success of the ‘Safety Bicycle’ needed the finest collaboration of mechanical efficiency, lightness and durability, and these requirements had to be compatible with ease of manufacture. The seamless tubular steel which was introduced during mass-production in 1880s was a major feature in the creation of a strong, however lightweight frame.

John Kemp Starley's Rover 'safety' bicycle of 1888 established a basic format for cycle design that is still used world-wide

Due to the technological innovation that was occurring during the Industrial Revolution, a manifestation of this improvement was also shown in products catered for domestic use. It is here that the functionalist interpretation of form becomes more doubtful. In the nineteenth century, the proposition that a product created by a mechanical manufacturing process, should be both functional and appear simple, was something which was not accepted. Some of the new industrial processes gave a greater possibility of product decoration, and also needed decorative forms in order to manage to solve problems of processing.

Furthermore, in furniture design features of complexity are illustrated. Industrialization enabled quantity of production, and in the early stages of this introduction, an involvement in the adaptation of traditional forms and techniques was used. There was the need of concentrating on producing a limited range of product within an enlarged commercial structure.

The traditional ‘Windsor chair’ formed in Britain and the United States was widely adapted to quantity production. It was made up of separate parts, most of which could easily be turned on a simple wood lathe and the elemental simplicity of the form made it adaptable to the materials and technology. 

The difficulty whilst making the chair arose in the point of assembly, where drilling of sockets required a high degree of skill.  Lambert Hitchcock developed a high rate of production by buying in the structural elements from sub-contractors and concentrating his resources on the skills of assembly. His factory produced chairs at a rate of over fifty per day and it is estimated that during his lifetime over a million where manufactured.

Furthermore, one if the most known examples of nineteenth-century design, the bentwood furniture produced by Michael Thonet’s factories was in contrast, the result of the introduction of the new technology.

Thonet began experimenting in wood bending around 1830 and his system was revolutionary. Machined formed rods of wood, usually beech, were curved and bent under steam-pressure and screwed together, completely eradicating the need for jointing. The simplicity of both the process and the forms produced enabled chairs to be manufactured in huge quantities, at low prices, and Thonet soon had a world market. His models were copied and many remain in production by the same methods to the present day. The elegance and quality of Thonet’s designs are indisputable. 

In 1900 the firm employed 4000 workers who produced approximately six thousand items a day. This is a proportional collaboration reflecting the amount of handwork still needed in assembling frames and weaving the cane seats.

A major competitor was the Moravian firm of Jacob and Josef Kohn founded in 1867 which specialized in bentwood furniture decorated by means of milling, engraving and sculptural techniques and advertised as superior furniture in various styles. Thus even bentwood could be adapted to the decorative taste of the age. the adaptation of the new processes can also be seen in the furniture that that John Henry Belter produced. 

This Chair was inspired from the Neo-Rococo style. 

William Morris was a leading member of the Arts and Crafts Movement. He was one of those who criticized the Industrial Revolution. He wanted individuality and craftsmanship, something that could not be obtained due to mass-production and he went back to hand-made products that required time and skill. His specialized pattern design were fabrics and wallpapers. He wanted to link art to the industry by relating the values found on fine arts to the product. His patterns were inspired from nature.

'

Trellis', 1862

(pencil and watercolour sketch for wallpaper design)

Morris made the first page design of the book called ‘The Nature of Gothic’ by John Ruskin. This is an example of how he was influenced by nature in his art. Design was made with passion, for him, those were the real craftsman.

According to his writings, the human well-being cannot be divorced from the well-being of the natural environment. For Morris, it is not a matter of humanity that impresses its mark on nature, but it is nature that impresses humanity. He was also against the division of labour, believing that liberation can be realized if there is a return to craftsmanship production. According to Morris: "everything made by man's hands has a form, which must be either beautiful or ugly; beautiful if it is in accord with Nature, and helps her; ugly if it is discordant with Nature, and thwarts her....". In this respect he did not have much good things to say in accordance to the modern civilization, which according to him it impoverished the human spirit. However hard Morris worked, his concept still failed. This is because he failed to cater products for everyone, since the products he developed coasted money that not every one could afford. 

Bibliography:

The Trumpeter Journal of Ecosophy. Inhaling All the forces of Nature . [online] Available at: http://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/view/179/224 [Accessed at 29th October 2013]

William Morris- The Arts and Crafts Movement. William Morris. [online] Available at:  http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/graphic_designers/william_morris.html [Accessed at  29th October 2013]

John Heskett. Industrial Revolution

The Design History Reader:  Grace lees-Maffei and Rebecca Houze

Roman accomplishments and architecture

 

The Romans were also great experts of vaultings. This is demonstrated in the Pantheon. Its interior is a vast rounded hall with a vaulted roof and a circular opening at the top, called the 'oculus' which was the only source of light to the building. The Pantheon was originally a temple for the gods, but was then transformed into a church. The most important difficulty that the Romans faced during the construction process of the Pantheon was the huge amount of weight of the large dome. The Romans also used a different type of concrete for the dome than for the walls. In fact, both the invention of concrete and that of the Dome are important achievements of the Romans. 

Pompeii, which was a Roman town, contained many influences of Hellenistic art. This is due to the fact that art changed little during the Roman conquests. However,  changes that art endured occurred when artists were given new tasks. The most popular achievements of the Romans was probably in civil engineering. This consisted in their roads, aqueducts and public baths. 

One of the most important Roman designs was the round arch. This creation made a vast difference in the structure of architecture. One may immagine the reaction of the people who were used to enormous columns decorating their facade's temples, and suddenly the creation of a round arch, was not only a differing style, but it made also the creation of levels possible. In fact, the Colosseum was created that way. This building consists of three levels of arches. One may easily notice how the Roman design was influenced by the Greek design in architecture. It was a typical thing, that the Romans took from the Greek architecture the designs that they liked, and applied them to what they needed. Even though the rounded arches of the Colosseum make the building a unique design for their time, each level is structured with a Greek style. The ground floor is a variation of the Doric style, the second one has an Ionic style, and the remaining floors have a Corinthian style. This combination in styles had a huge influence on later architects. In fact the triumphal arches were used everywhere around the Roman Empire. One of which is in France, the Triumphal arch of Tiberius.  

               The different layers of the Colosseum, built with different styles of the Greek era. 

         A Roman influence; the Triumphal Arch of Tiberius, this time illustrated in Orange, Southern France

                                         The Interior of the Pantheon  

The invention of the Dome did not stop at the Romans era. It travelled through times and was rediscovered during the Renaissance. The world Renaissance means rebirth or revival. This rebirth was associated with everything. It was a time when discoveries were being made about everything from philosophy, science, and the study of the human anatomy, whose one of its masters was Leonardo da Vinci, to art and architecture. The architect Filippo Brunelleschi was the one who was commissioned to complete the Florence cathedral. The Florentines wanted to have their cathedral crowned by a mighty dome, but no artist was able to do so until Brunelleschi. When he was commissioned to design new churches, he decided to ignore the traditional rules and adopted methods which incorporated the revival of the Romans greatness. It has been told that Brunelleschi travelled to Rome and observed the Roman ruins and made sketches of what he saw. 

                                 The Florence cathedral, with a view of the dome



The Roman influence of the dome is even found today. This can be illustrated in the architecture of the Mosta Dome.

              

                                    
                                      The Interior of the Mosta Dome

The Mosta Dome has an influence of both Greek design, illustrated in its columns, both the exterior and interior ones, representing the Ionic style, and the building of the dome, which is a Roman influence. Its interior, similar to that of the Pantheon, is made of rounded arches, creating little niches, and its roof has a typical Roman design with the vaulted ceiling, and again a circular opening at the top; an influence of the Pantheon. 

Another type of arch was invented, this time in the Gothic style. This is known as the pointed arch. The Gothic architects made a discovery regarding the way one should vault a church through methods of crosswise arches, and this is partly why the pointed arch was needed, since the round one was not sufficient for their design. The concept behind it was to fit two segments together, and the best thing was that it could be varied, made steeper according to what the architecture needed.

In those days, people were influenced by the readings of the Bible, and much importance was given to religion and God. According to the book of Revelations, which was read during that time, heaven was made of gold buildings and colourful light. This influenced the methods architects designed their buildings which declared the glories of heaven. The cathedrals were made of gold and stained glass, each one taller than the other to bring the people closer to heaven. The Notre-Dame in Paris is perhaps the greatest of all buildings. The arrangement of the porches and windows is so flexible that one may forget the heavy weight supporting the structure.

Notre-Dame interior

Similarly, this feeling of lightness is also felt in the sculptures  neighbouring the porches looking like hosts of heaven; again an influence of the Bible. Comparing it to the sculptures of the Romanesque master of Arles, these sculptures of saints look like solid pillars and are rigidly fitted into the structure of the architecture, unlike those in front of the Gothic Cathedral of Chartres which seem like each figure came to life. Furthermore every figure is clearly marked indicating who it represents. 

                                   Northern porch of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame

                             Front porch of the church of St- Trophime, Arles


Bibliography: 

Gombrich, E.H. The Story of Art. 

Greek styles in architecture

About 1000 BC, a group of tribes that arrived from Europe invaded Greece and won during a battle against the people who were living there. In the first centuries of the new people who governed  Greece, art was very harsh and primitive. Their designs were rigid and strict. The simplicity  not only in their art but also in their way of living, influenced the designs for their buildings, which seems to have travelled till our times. The Parthenon, in the Acropolis is a Greek temple that was designed in this old style. This was named after the tribe that built it; the Doric tribe. This tribe was known for their strictness and this may be a reason why their style and design in such buildings was so rigid. These people did not decorate, and their designs were simply focused to fulfil a purpose. They sought that their designs catered for their need, without the motive of decoration. 

     The Doric style shown in The Parthenon

By time, these styles travelled around the world, and their influenced can be still seen in our country. Several important buildings in Malta are designed in the Doric style.

                  The guard building in Palace Square in Valletta illustrates the Doric style. 

In architecture various styles have been used side by side as different people in Greece evolved. In later buildings on the Acropolis, different style were introduced in architecture. This consecutive style is known as the Ionic style. The purpose of these temples served the same function, however they differed in design. The building that illustrates this style the best is the Erechtheion.

                                       The Erechtheion Temple, Acropolis

The columns of the Ionic buildings are much less robust and the headpiece is highly decorated with volutes on each side. The concept that these buildings give to those who stand before it, is one of style and luxury. The same character of design found in such buildings can be also associated with the art of that time. During that period, Greece was at war with Sparta and during that time a carved railing was added to the temple of victory. Its ornaments show the change of taste in style that shifted towards elegance and delicacy which is reflected in the Ionic style.

The influence and admiration of the Ionic style is also found in our country, and up till the present, important buildings are built in such style. The facade of the Court of Malta, and that of the Mosta Dome, are two instances of this design. 

         The Court of Malta is built in the Ionic style.

                                      The church found known as the Mosta Dome

This style was further developed into another, this time into the Corinthian style. The new Empire of Alexander was of a colossal importance for Greek art, since it grew from being a concern of some cities to all his Empire. We refer to this period in art as Hellenistic art where everything is dramatic, romantic, luxurious and filled with bombastic details and movement, aiming to impress the audience. Under this period, art underwent a great change. This may be illustrated in some of the great sculptures of those times. 

The Altar of Zeus, at Pergamon, illustrates a scene called 'the battle of the Gods and the Giants'.  The artist here was aiming at a strong dramatic effect. Wild movement is emphasised and the protagonists are draped with fluttering drapery. In order to make the effect more striking, the artist composed the relief not as flat, but almost of free-standing statues, which seems as a surplus on the temple's steps.   

This period also influenced the design in architectural buildings. Tho strong and simple forms of the Doric style and the easy grace of the Ionic style were not enough. A new style for columns was developed. This was made up of foliage and richer ornaments. Few of these buildings are preserved, but from what is left, an impression of great magnificence is given. 

                                    The Temple of Olympieum in Athens

The Greeks broke through the rigid rules of early oriental art, and experimented through their voyage of discovery in order to be able to increase more features, from observations made of the world around them.

Bibliography: 

Gombrich, E.H. The Story of Art.