Researching the Art Movement of Realism

 EISENWALZWERK, IRON ROLLING MILL (1875)

Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel (8 December 1815 – 9 February 1905) was a German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings, and paintings. Along with Caspar Dave Friedrich, he is considered one of the two most prominent German painters of the 19th century, and was the most successful artist of his era in Germany. First known as Adolph Menzel, he was knighted in 1898 and changed his name to Adolph von Menzel^[cite].

The social context of this painting is in the 'modern' times of the late 18th century Germany in the 'Upper Silesian Königshütte'^[cite]

, which refers to a part of Poland named Chorzow which was under German administration from 1794 to 1921,

Iron rolling mill for railroad tracks. The painting illustrates a group of hard-working people in the 'modern' times, showing that hard work kept countries running. The workers are illustrated as having no gloves and being barefoot in clogs in which they transport white-hot so-called slugs with tongs and iron hand trucks^[cite] . The image represents the laborers in the 1870s and their terrible working conditions. Art techniques are used to portray the heat of the room, by making spattering dots from the iron to portray the extreme heat, but also a glow of a white-orange color is displayed in the room which illuminates the people's faces to show just how many people are working. This painting could be described as candid as the subjects have no knowledge of their illustration.

My pictures

These pictures present the same ideas as "THE IRON ROLLING MILL" as they are all set in an industrial scene, both aiding in the country, the iron rolling mill by making railway parts and this factory by making miscellaneous parts, e.g. welding parts together (agricultural parts at this time). They are also similar to the painting that this research is based on as they also have a darker composition and a lighter area in the center of them, being the sparks from the steel bar being linished (sanded) and the welding of the steel parts.