The 1890's - 1900's: "The Gilded Age"
The
beginning of American music (ragtime) was one reason this
period is also referred to as "The Gay
Nineties". Its upbeat tempo made it irresistable to dance
to and with the beginning of Tin Pan Alley in New York,
ragtime songs were published as sheet music which
brought them into homes. Meanwhile, the emerging
sounds of blues and jazz in New Orleans were more
obscure to the public.
Entertainment
was plentiful with concert halls and
theatres, spectator events like Wimbledon, world's fairs,
circuses, the opening of Coney Island amusement park,
penny arcades, nickelodeons, and vaudeville houses
which evolved the bawdy concert-saloon to a family-
friendly venue with a variety of stage acts. Edison's
moving picture flickers evolved to ten-minute films and
became the closing act at vaudeville houses.
Upper
and middle class women notably had leisure
time. They filled the hours with shopping, writing
letters, reading books and magazines, and recreational
sport activities. Charles Dana Gibson created a pen-and-
ink illustration of a young female who reflected the
emerging modern woman in America. She was proper at
all her social functions. She actively participated in
tennis, bowling, swimming, and bicycling and she
frequently traveled independently.
Art
Nouveau also contributed to this period. It brought
beauty and elegance to an environment quickly be-
coming modernized by technology. The masterful Louis
Tiffany's artworks are forever to be revered - his jewelry,
glass mosaics, and renowned stained-glass windows.
Equally outstanding are the jewelry and glassworks by
René Lalique and the enchanting illustrations of Mucha.