The Relationship Between Technology, Society, And Modern Art From 1850 To 1950?

What is the relationship between technology, society, and modern art from 1850 to 1950?

The events occurred in the period that goes from 1850 to 1950, are directly connected with what happened in Europe from the beginning of the 19th century. In particular, they were influenced by Romanticism, but Romanticism could not have existed without the radical changes that the Enlightenment spread one century before. The Enlightenment, was a complex cultural movement that developed around 1700 from England, across Europe, with the aim of "enlighten" with the light of reason the minds of men. The Enlighteners believed that man, while having by nature a precious good, that is his intellect, had not done a good use of it in the past, remaining in a state
Together with these epochal events, were born all the artistic movements that fall within Modern Art. Realism was the first one. In art and literature, it was an attempt to describe human behavior and the context in which man lived, and to represent figures and objects as they appear in real life (Britannica, 2016). The term "realist", used to describe a work of art, has often referred to the representation of objects or figures so precise that could also be "unpleasant", especially when contrasted with the canons of classical beauty. Frequently used to describe scenes of humble life, the term may also imply a critique of social conditions, this indeed the intent of the movement that, in contrast to the idealistic painting. An example, is the painting “Des glaneuses” (Jean-François Millet, 1857). It was presented at the Paris Salon, where it gave scandal and aroused the animosity of the nineteenth century bourgeois who, being rich, did not appreciate the representation of poverty that was indirectly an indictment against them. Despite Realism was different from Romanticism, it had the same aim to represent pure emotions and experiences. It was a mirror of that society, essentially rural. The second one
Futurism, originated in Italy in the early 20th century by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, was the Vanguard of technology, science, progress and their exaltation to the highest level. Undisputed icon for poets and artists was the car, inspirer of the movement itself and protagonist of the Futurist Manifesto (Britannica, 2015), where, Marinetti with epic tones told of a wild ride by car, which ended with a fall in a muddy ditch: “As I raised my body, mud-spattered and smelly, I felt the red hot poker of joy deliciously pierce my heart!” (Marinetti, 1909). In the futuristic context the machine was a mystical symbol, new centaur that embodied the heroic tomes that once were aimed at horses, involved in epic battles, worthy of the Iliad. In the Manifesto were reported terms such as centaur, snorting beast, shark; all symbols of strength, power and invincibility. It exalted the components of the car, for example the steering wheel and tires, with particular emphasis on metal ("metal waste"), on their heat ("red-hot iron of joy"), which were juxtaposed to animals or to parts of them. To the Futurists, the artificial, that was created by man, took the place of the natural, typical element of the ancient world, too different from a fast, modern, and dynamic