Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Twentieth-Century
Number One:
Victorianism & Arts and Crafts
The Industrial Revolution
generated a totally new
social structure in America
and Europe. The forces of
industrialization and
urbanization dictated a new
way of life for the
population as a whole. This
lithograph by Currier & Ives
depicts four of the major
inventions of the nineteenth
century: the lightning steam
press, the electric
telegraph, the locomotive,
and the steamboat, all of
which were developed
during the Industrial
Revolution.
By the mid-
nineteenth century,
Britain led the world
in terms of trade and
enjoyed great
prosperity. The
foundation of a
capitalist economy
spawned a thriving
middle class
anxious to express
its new found
prosperity in terms
of visual culture.
Items of household
decoration such as
wallpaper, textiles,
and carpets were now
being massed
produced and
purchased for the first
time by a bourgeoisie
who emulated their
social superiors with
the furnishings of a
formal drawing room.
The Great Exhibition of the Industry of All
Nations, better known as the Crystal Palace
Exhibition of 1851, was devised and
organized by Queen Victoria's German
husband Prince Albert to publicize Great
Britain's military, industrial and economic