The  19^th-century Western world experienced an extraordinary period of transition through industrialization and modernization. This selection of works from the Fannie Wetmore Print Collection at Connecticut College represents the diverse perspectives of the artists who were responding to their rapidly changing world. While each print is unique in its form and content, collectively the prints provide perspective for the context of nineteenth century life. These works chronicle the evolution of art throughout the century and reflect the emerging trends that influenced the art we see today. The prints confront the viewer with questions of inequality, class, gender, labor, and the environment, issues that have been inherited by our contemporary world and remain unresolved by the passage of time. Though, in our 21^st-century eyes, it may be impossible to fully comprehend the contextual issues raised by the various works, these prints provide glimpses into the past and what life might have been like in the 19^th century.

Collaboratively curated in Spring 2015 by Connecticut College students of Professor Karen Gonzalez Rice’s course, AHI 246: 19^th-Century Art, this digital exhibition was generously supported by the Connecticut College Art History and Architectural Studies Department, the Faculty-Student Engagement Fund, the Technology Fellows Program, and the Academic Resource Center.  Special thanks to Lyndsay Bratton and Noel Garrett, and to the curators and staff of the Florence Griswold Museum.