impact of the industrial revolution on
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Jacob RiisJacob Riis was a Danish immigrant who came to New York and became a newspaper photographer (Brinkley, 461). His photography displayed the reality of the tragic living conditions of the tenements that the immigrants and working class people had to endure (Brinkley, 461). "The word 'tenement' had originally referred simply to a multiple-family rental building, but by the late nineteenth century it had become a term for slum dwellings only" (Brinkley, 461). Tenements now meant miserable, cramped, unsanitary rooms with no windows or plumbing (Brinkley, 461). Many middle-class Americans were shocked by the horrendous living conditions depicted in the pictures in his book How the Other Half Lives (Brinkley, 461). He and his artwork not only enlightened the city of the poverty within it, but also encouraged the richer to do something about it.
compare/contrastBoth Riis and Nast used pictures to try to get their point across. Riis used actual photographs to try to make the issues of harsh living conditions public, while Nast used fictional cartoons to attack the problems of corruption in government and business.
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Thomas nastThomas Nast was another artist who was affected by the Industrial Revolution. Nast had come to New York as a 6 year old, had gone on to study art at the National Academy, and had later become a draftsman for local newspapers (Britannica). Because of the Industrial Revolution, tycoons such as Carnegie and Rockefeller had been made possible as well as corrupt government officials such as "Boss" Tweed. Nast used cartoons to attack these ideas. Two of his most famous cartoons, "Tammany Tiger Loose" and "Group of Vultures Waiting for the Storm to Blow Over" attacked New York's Tammany Hall political machine led by "Boss" Tweed (Britannica). Tweed was so afraid of Nast's power that he offered him a bribe of over $500,000 (United States History). Successful?Even though these artists were not one hundred percent successful in completely eliminating the harsh living conditions suffered in New York, as well as all of the corrupt government officials, they still took major steps towards these goals. One law that was passed was the 1901 Tenement House Act which said that all tenements built after that year had to have adequate lighting and ventilation, which greatly improved the living conditions of the poor (The Living City). Riis's works were a huge part of what influenced New York to pass this law. Because of Nast's works, many corrupt government officials were exposed and taken down. Tweed was convicted of fraud and sentenced to lifetime in prison (Moore). Without the enlightenment and exposure brought on and exemplified in the artwork of these two artists, America would be a very different place today.
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