Task 2 - Modernisation

Modernisation is the response to the impact of the machine on human life. The new technologies and industries changed the way people live their lives, their experiences and their social culture. This Modernity created a form of experience, an awareness of the changes occuring and the improvements to modern day living. In the art world the responses to this were undeniable. Although collectively described as modernism, the branches from this reaction were distinctively different.

 The Expressionists drew upon their new experiences with the notion of the 'self', real people and real lives. However, avante-garde artists distanced themselves from the urbanisation of modernisation and reflected upon the natural world. There was a distinct pessimism of the changes the 'machine' had brought and the loss of control that ensued. The futurists were forward-thinking, taking modernism to a whole new level. Futurism was idealist and utopian, the new technology bridged gaps between countries, communication was increased and made easier. 

"For all that was being gained, there was a sense that life was losing a depth, a dimension of freedom, and that human beings were becoming imprisoned in what the German sociologist Max Weber saw as the 'iron cage' of modernity' (p126) Harrison, G. and Wood, P. (eds) (1997) : Art in Theory: 1900-1990, Oxford, Blackwell

Task 1 - Image comparison

Poster by Savile Lumley 1915

The Uncle Sam Range 1876 advertising image by Shumacher & Ettlinger, New york

The first obvious difference between the two images is the style of illustration. With a forty year difference in production of the images, the technology used to create each one would have differed the image quality greatly. The Uncle Sam Range, being produced in 1876 has a lower print quality than the poster by Savile Lumley in 1915. Printing techniques and also the printing presses used in 1915 would have been capable of printing much clearer images and there would have been more shades of colour available to use. However, it can be argued that the red, white and blue of The Uncle Sam Range would still have been used if made at a later date as those colours were being used to connote Americana and patriotism.

The typefaces used in The Uncle Sam Range are stereotypical of a Wild West film, most likely to be seen on a saloon door. This type of typeface was used as it immediately makes the viewer think of this era and the great, yet not historically correct, times. Savile Lumley uses an almost friendly, childlike typeface. A family-friendly typeface for a family-friendly image. I think Lumley was trying to gloss over the fact that war is horrific and glorifying the war effort. In comparison, it could be argued that both images have their particular typefaces for the same reason. They are both trying to connote a feeling of pride for your country, but The Uncle Sam Range is clearly more patriotic and intensely American.

Both images are aimed at the people of their own countries, this is why they differ so much in style. However, when it comes to class, Lumley's poster is aimed at the middle classes with a comfortable wealth that would not necessarily want to fight for their country. Working classes in England in 1915 would be the majority of soldiers at the time as in a lot of cases, the army paid them a better wage than other jobs could pay. Also, at this time national service was not compulsary and soldiers would have needed to be drafted from all classes as soldiers were dying.

The Uncle Sam Range is aimed at middle classes also, those that are aspiring to better themselves and that basically could at one point afford to buy the product the image is selling. The image strives to do this by using the viewers sense of patriotism to sell the American dream through the product. The product that is being sold is not central to the image, Uncle Sam, the image of all things American and great, is. The range becomes secondary to the lifestyle that the image portrays.

The Uncle Sam Range image was produced in 1876, 100 years since American Independence Day. It is very significant to the way the image is styled. Nowadays the image looks overly patriotic, the red, white and blue is intense, but at the time of 1876, this would have been the case everywhere. Most Americans would have been having a celebration and this image would have fitted the way they were feeling, proud to be American and indeed living the American dream.