Introduction
Art is central to existence. Various forms of art provide outlets for the things that drive the development of the mankind, one generation to another. Works of art have been parts of different cultures since time immemorial. Every period of history is marked by its trends in art; in the same way works of art vary from one community to another. Pieces of art say much about their developers or periods when they were created. This is explained by the fact that art is a form of expression of artists’ thoughts regarding various issues that happen in their surroundings. Works of art are also used to criticize certain issues in the community, while some artists use them to sell ideas to people. The most appreciated element of art is its aesthetics that can be observed in all forms of art. Historically, artistic masterpieces have always had great influence on the way of life in the human society, while historical works of art inform people about their past and unify them by giving a light perception of life.
American works of art say much about the history and culture of the United States. Despite the relatively short history, America has the great influence upon the development of modern art around the world. The so-called “Gilded Age” is considered to be one of the most successful periods of American art. It was marked by considerable developments in economic, political, and social spheres of life, while art experienced the second Renaissance during the Gilded Age. Edith Wharton is considered to be one of the best short story writers and novelists to ever grace the Earth by their life and work. Wharton had huge interest in architecture, gardening, and internal decorations, which found its reflection in her numerous novels and short stories, where she addressed the importance of good designs of houses and gardens.
Thesis Statement
During her whole life path, Edith Wharton was known as a person interested in architecture, garden designs, and internal decoration. She not only addressed these topics in the majority of her writings but also developed homes according to her design philosophies and ideas. The Mount, her residential home, still stands to testify her great work. Wharton views on architecture, garden design, and internal decoration have considerable impact on the modern trends of house design.
“Gilded Age”
Gilded Age is one of the most successful periods in the U.S. history conventionally referred to as the time between 1877 and 1917. The term “Gilded Age” is commonly used in the American history in association with numerous changes in the country. The term refers mainly to the era fast economic and population growth. The “Gilded Age” changed greatly the way that most American people were used to. The most significant process during this era was the development of economic classes in the American society, as far as economic growth brought a lot of wealth in the country. The newly formed upper class lived expensively and practiced the open display of wealth.
Significant to this era was also the unprecedented industrial sector growth associated with setting up big manufacturing companies, some of which still exist. Because of industrial and economic growth, and increase in the level of wealth, the face of America was drastically changed. The infrastructures in various spheres of the country’s life were highly developed during the “Gilded Age”. There was also great development of the high quality road and railway networks in the country. Improved transport and communication during the “Gilded Age” led to the increased movement of the population and changes of the demographic situation throughout the country. Mark Twain coined the term “Gilded Age” in one of his writings to refer the social and economic changes observed in the respective period of the U.S. history.
As the “Gilded Age” was marked by great socio-economic changes, there was an increase in economic activities, which led to the great economic growth. New factories were set up in northeast of the country; industrial towns and cities were set up all over the United States and especially in the Northeast. Fast industrial growth led to increased demand for workers. As a consequence, there was mass employment of diverse working force, the bulk of which was comprised by immigrants from Europe, in various industries. Industrialization led to unprecedented wealth in the country, which was, however, unequally distributed among the citizens. Individual industrialists like for instance Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Henry Flagler gained much from economical activities and became super-rich. The reactions to the growth of individual achievers were mixed. Some critics thought that the individual achievers did not get their wealth in justifiable means, while some even referred to them as robber barons. The controversy over unequal wealth distribution resulted in the growth of labor unions’ influence and was summed up by the formation of American Federation of Labor.
The politics of the Guided Age, usually referred to third party system, was significantly different from post-war and other proceeding periods. The “Gilded Age” was also marked by increased interest in politics, as voters’ turnout rates grew if compared to other eras and in some elections it reached 90%. The main feature of politics in this era was the increased contest between Democratic and Republican parties. Occasionally, there would be a third party and the competition would be stiff. The control of the house of representative often changed between the Democrats and Republicans. Despite the high political competition and considerable economic growth during the “Gilded Age”, most Presidents of the period were not popular among Americans. The political activities of the “Gilded Age” have significance for the modern politics as far as the current two-party system dates back to it; so does the structure of legislature in the United States of America.
“Gilded Age” is also famous for the development of the modern industry-based economy. During this period, the national transport and communication infrastructure received considerable developmental impacts. Another notable process observed in the “Gilded Age” was the shift of the U.S. society to the corporate economy, which later became a powerful determinant factor in domestic policies in the USA. In order to manage the corporate economy, the managerial revolution took place; soon, it changed the ways businesses were run. The modern corporate management takes its principles from the fundamentals provided by the “Gilded Age”. Economic development in the guided age had great influence on the position of United States in the world.
Art in the “Gilded Age”
The “Gilded Age” is also known as the Age of Opulence, the Brown, white and Mauve decades, Age of Energy, and the American Renaissance. All the terms are used to describe the period between 1860s and 1910s, which was characterized by the fast economic development. Accordingly, artists of the “Gilded Age” tried to describe and/or explain what they observed in the society. Artists, designers, writers, and architects developed works of art that were unique to this period. Artists analyzed the domestic and international events and tried to prove that America was equal to the Old World in its artistic potential. The “Gilded Age” was thus characterized by the unprecedented development of art, which eliminated the perception of America as the country lacking fine arts and artists. The “Gilded Age” masterpieces demonstrated huge originality and innovativeness and used wide ranges of sources that included colonial topics and references to the European Renaissance.
The growth of wealth in the “Gilded Age” led to the increased interest in works of art. Although the wealth was not equally distributed among people, the way in which the super wealthy individuals celebrated their positions in the society made the American culture rather influential globally. The wealthy built magnificent new mansions and wanted them to be decorated in lavish ways, which conditioned the unprecedented development of architecture. Numerous new and popular architects, such as Richard Morris and Stanford White, emerged during the period together with new architectural ideas, trends, and designs. The examples of the two architects’ work are numerous and include such masterpieces as the fabulous Florentine Palazzo, French Chateaux in New York, etc.
Increase in wealth allowed some artists and their patrons to travel to other parts of the world and explore works of art in other countries. Returning to America, the artists brought the variety skills and the taste for foreign art trends, which they further incorporated in their own works in the area of home decorations. The wealthy spent a lot of money on works of art and home décor solutions; some people could even afford their portraits painted and set in their homes. A lot of money was spent on decorative art as many wealthy individuals wanted to make their mansions as beautiful as possible. The wealthy invested heavily in decoration for their satisfaction, and also as a way of showing their social status. The high spending on mansions and decorations was highly criticized for lack of authenticity and sophistication and viewed as vulgar. For example, French Prime minister Clemenceau once criticized the trend by saying that the country had not gone through civilization as it moved to decadence. The photograph bellow shows a “Gilded Age” mansion in New York:
Despite of criticism to the “Gilded Age”, the era is considered to have conditioned the maturity of the American art. It is during this period that the American art was distinguished from other art types from different countries. The distinctive taste for art that the “Gilded Age” managed to form in Americans provided the background for the formation of specifically American art.
While the wealthy individuals during the “Gilded Age” promoted a purely material culture, artists sought to share the beauty of life through their works of art. Most artists wanted to show that life could be celebrated through nature and day-to-day objects.
Industrialization in the “Gilded Age” was one of the major causes of increase in consumerism, i. e. the condition of more people buying manufactured goods including those intended for decorating their homes9. However the manufactured decoration goods had some limitations as their producers were interested in making high sales instead of caring for quality.
In most cases, they could pick parts from a pattern book to make the decorations, where an item could be formed by combining parts from different cultural backgrounds. This trend was highly criticized by some artists who called for return to craftsmanship, and personalities like Louis Comfort Tiffany headed this return.
Architecture, Design, and Internal Decoration in “Gilded Age”
The “Gilded Age” was marked by the considerable development of architecture, gardening, and internal decoration. After amassing great wealth, millionaires invested a lot in palatial homes, whose numbers increased in all major towns, but especially in New York City. Having a palatial home was the sign of wealth tempting many individuals to set very expensive homes.
As a consequence, there was unprecedented interest in architectural works. Famous architects like Richard Morris Hunt and Stanford White were involved in the processes of designing and building of palatial homes and hotels in various cities. The objects were huge, resembled the palaces and castles that could formerly be observed only in Europe, and displayed combinations of earlier styles like Romanesque, Rococo, and Renaissance merged with Beaux Arts, a lavish European style.
Architecture in the “Gilded Age” was on the whole heavily influenced by the Beaux-Art classicism, especially as expressed in the works by Henry Richardson. He borrowed ideas and techniques from Medieval and Roman designs to come up with the style of his own, often referred to as the “Richardsonian style”, which was distinguishable by use of massive arches, textured stones, and dramatic towers. The Richardsonian style was common for churches and public buildings making them widely visible in the country.
After the architectural exposition held in Chicago in 1893, however, the Classical style became popular and replaced the Richardsonian one. The classical style was characterized by use of the Beaux-Art techniques and solutions10 that revisited the style of buildings in ancient Rome and Greece.
The “Gilded Age” was also characterized by growth of skyscrapers, tall buildings set up in major cities such as New York and Chicago, whose construction was enhanced by steel strength and industry development.
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton was one of the most influential individuals in the American “Gilded Age”. She was born on 24th January, 1862, in New York11 to Lucretia Rhinelander and George Frederic and had two brothers Henry Edward and Frederic Rhinelander. Edith Wharton was born and brought up during a period of great economical development. Her family was among those who succeeded in the corporate economy. Living in the city that was the centre of economic development, Wharton’s family was influenced by the economic revolution. Trying to have rest from the hardships of the busy city, the Wharton often went to Newport, Rhode Island in summers or chose to spend their vacations abroad12. When Edith was four, her family decided to completely move to Europe and stay there13. They spent five years traveling from one country to another, and during their stay in Europe, the family was able to live in various cities in Germany, France, Spain and Italy14. After these five years, the family returned to New York, where Wharton continued her studies.
With the help of private tutors, Edith Wharton learned German and French languages and became a voracious reader. In addition, she studied science, literature, philosophy and art. Of all the subjects she was more interested in art, but at the same time she was committed to writing. Edith Wharton started writing short stories and poems in her childhood. Her first work was published in 1877 when she was only sixteen. A collection of poems was to follow in 1878. Her early works showed her prowess in writing and her destiny was to spend all her lifetime writing novels, short stories, and poetry. Wharton developed close friendship with her niece Beatrix Farran who was an architect, and this relationship influenced her views on American architecture and played an important role in instilling her interest in architecture as demonstrated in her novels. Coming from the privileged layer of the society, Wharton was able to experience much in New York City as well as other locations. Her experience was thus instrumental to her writings as far as her novels were characterized by humor, natural wit, and brilliance.
After Edith had started her career as a writer, her family traveled to Europe again. George Jones was ill, and the family wanted to take him to the better environment for faster recovery. Despite the fact that he was taken to the French Riviera, George did not recover and died in 1882.
In 1883, Wharton met her lifetime friend, Walter Berry. Later, she married Edward Robbins when she was twenty three years old. Edward was also from the privileged layer of the society. Edith and Edward shared interest in traveling but had fundamental differences. Shortly after their marriage, problems started appearing as Edward became unfaithful and started having relationships with other women. This was distressing to Edith and she chose to escape to France to seek solace. Their marriage came to an end in 1913, after lasting for twenty three years. Edith later referred to this marriage as the worst mistake in her life.
Edith was a successful author. Although she had started her writing at a young age, her works found fame later in her life. Wharton was considered to be one of the most successful female authors of the twentieth century. She was known for her naturalistic novels that portrayed the New York upper class. Although she was a member of this class, she was critical of it and used humor and irony to portray its development. Edith started her professional career as a writer when she was almost forty.
She started writing in 1890’s but wrote her first novel in 1902. Her most popular work is “The House Mirth” published in 1905. It was this novel that brought her in the lime light and initiated her as professional author. In her career, Wharton had more than forty novels and other writings. She also received a number of prizes and rewards for her works and was the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1920 for her novel “The Age of Innocence”. Wharton’s works, however, received a period of neglecting, mainly because of their alleged similarity to those of her mentor, James. However, her works were actually significantly different from those of James; the two authors often addressed similar topics but Wharton was known to depict people and objects more vividly. Her style enabled her readers to grasp the hidden messages of her works.
Edith Wharton also had a strong interest in architecture, gardening, and internal decoration. Having been brought up in the upper class community of old New York, Edith’s surrounding was marked by excesses that lacked aesthetic effect. The rooms were dark and oppressive; the cluttered mantelpieces and velvet-covered tables did not do any good to the rooms. The doors, windows, and other parts of the homes were poorly designed without adherence to aesthetic aspects.
Wharton tasted the beauty of architecture when she visited Europe for the first time. Subsequent visits to Europe exposed her to beautiful local houses, among which there were the French pavilions, English country houses, and Italian villas. These buildings helped in forming and inspiring Wharton’s further design principles.
Wharton used her skills in writing to champion for change in architecture and design in the United States. “The Decoration of Houses” was the most popular book that addressed the issues of design and internal decoration. The book was co-authored by Wharton and Ogded Codman. Codman was an architect and a designer and, at the same time, a close friend to Edith. The aim of the book was to raise awareness to the need for better design of interior decoration. The book served as a reminder about the role that Wharton played in shaping the distinct American taste for internal decoration. The book was also a piece of evidence of the contribution Wharton made in starting the profession of an interior designer.
Edith and Codman met when she hired him to redesign her summer house. Wharton wanted the house, Land’s End, to be remodeled in order to include aesthetic aspects. In their interaction, Wharton discovered that Codman had similar opinion over the sumptuary excesses. Both did not approve the excessive investments made into design and decoration of houses. As a solution, Wharton and Codman formed an opinion that that internal decoration ought to be simple and architecturally clear. United by similar thoughts, the two decided to coauthor a book. The book turned out to be a popular and influential text on decoration. The writing helped to bring changes to the ways in which internal decoration procedures could be done and rooms could be arranged.
In the book, Wharton and Codman wanted to rationalize, correct, explain, and order the very taste for design17. They referred to the development of classical design from Renaissance to Neoclassicism and gave practical and theoretical advice arguing that internal design should be considered as a part of architecture. Unlike what their observed in their surroundings, Wharton and Codman advocated the equal attention to both internal and exterior designs. However, they argued that internal design should be guided by the principles of the good taste. According to Wharton and Codman, the internal decoration should be simple, proportional, balanced, and fit. The thirteen chapters that comprise the book offer a pragmatic way that can be used to enhance internal design.
“The Decoration of Houses” is highly appreciated for its practical advice. The book is still invaluable today as in it Wharton emphasizes on discipline, strictness, and simplicity in development of internal decorations. This is contrary to some of decorations which are loose or fussy. “The Decoration of Houses” is still very important to professional interior designers or specialists that only start their careers. Although some of French, English, and Italian architectural styles are somewhat outdated, the major part of the book is still applicable for the modern decorators and designers.
Edith Wharton’s dedication to architecture, gardening, and internal design was demonstrated by how actively she was involved in design and development of her homes that still carry the evidence of her architectural and design philosophies. Following the death of her mother, Wharton started developing the design of her new home. She not only designed the interior of the new home, The Mount, but also supervised its construction. Thus, the Mount can be called a product of Wharton’s design philosophies. The project also involved the effort from other three architects and designers: Francis Hoppin, Odgen Codman, and Beatrix Ferrand. The photograph below shows The Mount:
The Mount was unique in its design. The house had the rectangular shape that allowed the building to have much more space than in other constructions of typical four-angle types. Because of its shape, the building required less outward decoration. Wharton believed that the ideal design for houses in the American landscape was the Georgian style. Thus, she instructed the contractor to use this style in the new home. The Georgian style had the advantage of allowing more space, comfort, and light. The Mount combined various styles and sources of inspiration, including Italian, English, and French trends in the interior design. The garden resembled an Italian one, the courtyard was constructed according to French techniques, while terraces used were Italian. Though refurbished, The Mount still stands today, after having been set aside and protected as a National Historical Landmark.
Thus, Wharton’s house demonstrated her philosophy of design. The Mount offered her an opportunity to exercise her style in architecture, garden, and interior decoration. This thirty two-room mansion reflected the English country house that had separate suites for Edith and her husband, nine rooms, four guest houses, and nine servant rooms. There was also a balance of the dining, living, and library facilities.
Edith Wharton also had great interest in gardening. In her book, “Italian Villas and Their Gardens”, Wharton emphasized the need for proper planning of gardens. She argued that the gardens should be well planned in order for them to be consistent with the houses and natural landscapes. Wharton was greatly influenced by her travels to Europe, especially Italy, in whiting the book. When comparing the gardens in America and those in Europe, Wharton saw great differences that she thought could be rectified by emulating the European gardens. In the book, she described various magnificent terraced gardens and ways of their construction, design, and decoration.
Thus, Edith Wharton greatly influenced the modern architecture, gardening, and internal design. Wharton’s works were influential in the Gilded Age, the economical and industrial development of which had led to neglecting aesthetic ideals of art. The industrial products were produced in masses with the aim of making more sales. As a result, the need for beauty in the products was widely neglected. Increase in wealth led to the considerable spreading of expensive palatial buildings by which many super-rich individuals were showing their social status. In setting up the palatial homes, the real aesthetic aspects of art were ignored in favor of the overemphasis on external beauty at the expense of the internal one. Wharton’s “The Decoration of Houses” addressed these issues and ignited the taste for internal decoration. The book still continues to be widely used as a reference for internal decoration trends. The Mount, the home that Wharton built using her design philosophy, was very influential in respect of house design trends in its epoch. Some of the elements of the house, such as garden design and internal décor, are still common in modern houses.
Conclusion
The “Gilded Age” is reported to have had great influence upon socio-economic aspects of life in the United States of America. This era brought unprecedented economical and population growth that led to the emergence of super-rich people in the country. To show their wealth, these millionaires lived expensive lives in almost all respects. Art, architecture, and internal decoration were also influenced by the “Gilded Age” and its basic implications. There was the increase in the number of pieces of art that formulated the distinctive American style in art, architecture, and internal décor. Edith Wharton was one of the most influential figures in the “Gilded Age”. Wharton influenced the architecture, gardening, and internal design development in her time. Wharton’s book, “The Decoration of Houses” provided valuable guidelines for internal decorator of today. The Mount, the house Edith Wharton designed for her own living, still stands as the piece of evidence of her contribution to architecture.
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