Mankind's innate desire to create reveals a unique connection between architecture and art. They are trails through the wilderness; they fork, only to run parallel, reconnect for a while, then diverge again. The changes of direction from these creative endeavors result from any number of things, which the layman may incorrectly construe as minor technological advances.
A group of Paris based artists shunned the Beaux-Arts establishment and began painting everyday scenes, often in bright colors painted with short and quick brushstrokes. The movement they began was named after an early painting by the leader of the movement, Claude Monet. For these artists, capturing the fleeting impression of their subject matter took priority over realism. The entire movement would not have been possible had it not been for the simple invention of the now common paint tube. Prior to this invention, artists were confined to their studio, where they had to carefully mix their paints. The Impressionists recognized the newly invented paint tube not only as a convenience but also as an opportunity to venture outside of the studio, set up their easel wherever their subject was located, and paint however they liked, paying particular attention to the colors of the rising or setting sun, and how they reflect off their subject at various times of day.
|Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet, 1872|
|mixing paint in the Studio|
|pre-mixed paint in a tube|
|Home Insurance Building, William LeBarron Jenny, 1885|
The paint tube changed the history of art just as the elevator and steel frame changed the history of architecture. Jenny's skyscraper introduced a new type of building that was embraced by a country of growing cities, the United States. We'll explore this in greater detail in the next post. Please join me next time for Race for the Sky.