190 likes | 268 Views
Explore the Age of Progress with rising standards of living, women's movements, popular culture, sports, and artistic experimentation. Witness the clash of confidence and opposition in a cosmopolitan Europe.
E N D
The Belle Époque Cosmopolitan Culture in Late 19th Century Europe
The Age of Progress • The Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries marked the height of modern liberal European society. • Rising standards of living and mass communications gave rise of leisure culture, greater demands by women and the oppressed, and an explosion in artistic expression. • The new confidence of this period would be contrasted by the opposition to it.
The Women Question • In the 1860s, women’s movements gained strength they had not had before. • This reflected the power of women in the workplace and in the home. • Three types of women's movements: • Middle class-led, focusing on social issues. • Focused on equal rights (laws and voting) • Women’s trade unions (concerned with pay and working conditions)
The Women Question • Working women still made up a large percentage of the workforce. • Jobs were often determined by gender. • Women were more prevalent in the service industries and textile factories than in heavy industrial production.
The Women Question • Increasing education for women opened new opportunities. • More women became secretaries, clerks, nurses, and teachers (occupations that became associated with their sex). Some moved into medicine and other professions. • Significant clashes continued between feminists and chauvinists and Social Darwinists.
Popular Culture • Mass culture continued to expand in scope as people (esp. middle class) had more leisure time. • Entertainment became an important business as upper and middle class would attend opera or musicals while working class attended vaudeville or circuses. • Holidays at beach resorts became popular for people of all classes.
Sports • New “ball games” became popular, first at boys school, then spreading both for amateur players and for spectators. • Games such as football (soccer), rugby, and cricket were popular team games played at schools and by working class people in the cities. • For upper classes, golf, tennis, and polo became increasingly popular.
The Arts • The late 19th century was a time of rapid change and experimentation in the arts, with no one dominant style. • Arts moved away from strict realism. • The arts often reflected national character. Some moved to simpler styles, like the Pre-Raphaelites. • This period marked the beginning of “modern” art styles with symbolism, impressionism, post-impressionism developing.
Arts – Pre-Raphaelites • J.W. Waterhouse – The Lady of Shallot
The Arts - Impressionism • Claude Monet – The Houses of Parliament
The Arts - Impressionism • Claude Monet – The Waterlilies
The Arts - Impressionism • Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Moulin de la Galette.
The Arts – Post Impressionism • Vincent Van Gogh
The Arts - Post Impressionism • Paul Gauguin
The Arts - Symbolism • Edvard Munch – The Scream