Art in a Speeded up World
How changing concepts of time during the 19th century came to be reflected in literature and art
By Philip McCouat
MA(Art Hist), LLB(Hons), LLM(Hons), MEnvL.
Overview
During the nineteenth century, there were radical changes in the concept of time – its nature, its importance and its capacity for manipulation. Instead of time being conceived of as God-given, steady in pace and inevitable in result, time started to become seen as subjective, raid and unpredictable. These changes were influenced by a number of diverse factors – developments in technology such as photography, telegraphy and rail travel; advances in scientific disciplines such as geology, psychology and evolutionary theory; and the impact of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation.
These changed concepts did not just exist ‘in the air’, nor just in the minds of a small privileged coterie, but flowed through to the lives of ordinary people – affecting their religious beliefs, their working lives, leisure hours, transport and communications, their access to news and even their relationship to the world and reality. It is therefore not surprising that these changes came to be reflected in, and reinforced by, new themes and new genres in popular literature. These changes also gradually percolated through to paintings, firstly through works of art that recognised the new importance of time-related concepts, and later through works which recognised and exploited the fact that time – and therefore reality – could be manipulated.
Part 1: Changing concepts of time
Part 2: The 'new' time in literature
Part 3: The 'new' time in painting
MA(Art Hist), LLB(Hons), LLM(Hons), MEnvL.
Overview
During the nineteenth century, there were radical changes in the concept of time – its nature, its importance and its capacity for manipulation. Instead of time being conceived of as God-given, steady in pace and inevitable in result, time started to become seen as subjective, raid and unpredictable. These changes were influenced by a number of diverse factors – developments in technology such as photography, telegraphy and rail travel; advances in scientific disciplines such as geology, psychology and evolutionary theory; and the impact of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation.
These changed concepts did not just exist ‘in the air’, nor just in the minds of a small privileged coterie, but flowed through to the lives of ordinary people – affecting their religious beliefs, their working lives, leisure hours, transport and communications, their access to news and even their relationship to the world and reality. It is therefore not surprising that these changes came to be reflected in, and reinforced by, new themes and new genres in popular literature. These changes also gradually percolated through to paintings, firstly through works of art that recognised the new importance of time-related concepts, and later through works which recognised and exploited the fact that time – and therefore reality – could be manipulated.
Part 1: Changing concepts of time
Part 2: The 'new' time in literature
Part 3: The 'new' time in painting
