Social structure of modern western art and its interact with fashion

The humanist movement that emerged in the Renaissance contributed to cultural development and laid the foundations of Modern Western Art. Running from the beginning of mid 19th Century to the mid 20th Century, Modern Western Art presents a rich historical ground to the understanding of the interaction between art and society. Analyzing this period politically, economically and socio-culturally, it is observed that the interaction of Modern Western Art with social structure and fashion has a dynamic dialectical structure. Significant historical events such as World War I, World War II and the Cold War take place during this period altering society in meaningful ways. Groundbreaking intellectual movements such as the Enlightenment and Romanticism, not only affect art and fashion but also modify the relationship between art, fashion and society. The main scope of the thesis is defining the elements of this dynamic dialectic and the evaluation of the said dialectic from the perspective of art, fashion and society. The significant Modern Western paintings are examined and analysed through three different lenses in order to understand the lifestyle and social processes of the West. The analysis involves: firstly, looking at the paintings that reflect the perspective through which artists of the period view historical events; secondly, the paintings that provide the evaluation of the clothes worn by courtiers and the bourgeoise; thirdly, the paintings that reflect the mood of the public. While examining the paintings, a historical viewpoint is utilized, taking into consideration any cause and effect relationships one may find. While art of painting during the 16th to 19th Century was considered to be the work hung in the palaces of the royalty, the end of the 20th Century saw an intellectual movement involving common folk enjoying artwork simply because it reflects their lifestyle or the spirit of the times. The liberation of the artist allowed him to wrest free from the yoke of the clergy, royalty and the middlemen, thereby reflecting social events and society's spirit onto his canvas. This allowed the viewer of their art to understand the zeitgest and the historical meaning of the events they painted. The research delved into work starting from the period of the French Revolution to the Industrial Revolution to make sense of the politics of the period as well as to understand the societal implications of the work under consideration. To distinguish between the different periods of Western History under consideration, 37 works of 18 painters were analyzed both historically and societally. The societal considerations involved the difficulties and the trials faced by the population to clarify the social structure of the time. With the emergence of the Industrial Revolution, the propagation speed of fashion accelerated thanks to the prominence of newspapers and magazines. Thanks to mechanization in textiles, garments were mass produced allowing them to become much more accessible to the public. In conclusion, the artist gained a newfound freedom ridding herself of tradition in the process to and become better able to reflect her spirit in her paintings or clothes. Keywords : Modern Western Art,Renaissance, French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Art, Fashion, Textile