大象传媒

The 19th century saw a decisive shift in power from the countryside to the cities. With the industrial revolution transforming the British Isles, a divide opened up between the urban and the rural, forcing artists to respond to the upheaval to lives and the landscape. Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson reflects on the inspiration of JMW Turner, arguably the first environmental artist, and we encounter Penry Williams鈥檚 attempt to capture the beauty of industry with paintings like Cyfarthfa Ironworks Interior at Night.

Some artists attempt to capture the poverty and squalor caused by the rapid urbanisation around them. Actress Maxine Peake reads from Elizabeth Gaskell鈥檚 campaigning novel North and South, architect Fiona Sinclair assesses Alexander 鈥楪reek鈥� Thomson鈥檚 architecture for the people of Glasgow, and artist Jeremy Deller explores William Morris鈥檚 drive to bring nature back into Victorian homes through his hand-crafted wallpaper designs.

As art becomes appropriated by commerce in the late 19th century, some artists fight back with new individuality and flair. Writer and drag performer Amrou Al-Kadhi explores the meaning and inspiration of Oscar Wilde鈥檚 writing, and artist Shani Rhys James reflects on the quiet anger that simmers underneath Walter Sickert鈥檚 Camden Town Nudes, an unflinching vision of the grimy realities of working-class lives at the turn of the 20th century.