Visual Arts, In The Context Of Scientific And Technological Civilization

From the mid 18^th century to the mid 19^th century, the long-lasting and far-reaching Industrial Revolution happened in the whole European continent, which induced the rapid development of the market economy after the bourgeois political revolution in England. At the mean while, a series of new technologies and new products were introduced, which drastically changed how people think and their viewpoints of value. Immediately after the Industrial Revolution, by virtue of the industrialization of technology, the western developed countries started a modernization revolution involving the civilization of system, the economy systems and the culture, etc. This revolution deeply changed the relationship between human and the world. The technology, as an article itself and the means to human evolution, has a great influence in the realm of art. Technology gives a notion, which is the starting point of how the technology can be used to understand the world and then change the world. This notion indicates that human understand the relationship between the world and themselves by means of technology. But not until the Industrial Revolution, technology and art are treated separately. This separation indicates that technology and art are completely distinguished in activity areas, profession skills and knowledge systems, thus represents different viewpoints to the world.In this thesis, the relationship between technology and art in the past two centuries is reviewed historically, referred to the three-stage theories of capitalism culture evolution by Jameson. The 19th century is the primary stage of industrialization, in this period, classical physics theories and the evolutionism formed the notion of technology, and realism became the mainstream of art. From the early 20th century to the 1960's, the industrialization was getting mature, elementary particle theories and system theories are the notion of technology, while modernism substituted the position of realism as the mainstream of art. Since 1970's, the highly advanced technologies have been developed a lot, micro-electronics technology and gene theories evolved, while post-modernism dominates the realm of art. Furthermore, the relationship between technology and art is reviewed from the viewpoint of art, in order to show how art changes with the influence of technology.