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187

Christopher Dresser, Principles of Decorative Design

Christopher Dresser publishes Principles of Decorative Design.

Articles

Irena Yamboliev, “Christopher Dresser, Physiological Ornamentist”

Related Articles

Morna O’Neill, “On Walter Crane and the Aims of Decorative Art”

Wendy S. Williams, "‘Free-and-Easy,’ ‘Japaneasy’: British Perceptions and the 1885 Japanese Village"

Siobhan Carroll, "On Erasmus Darwin’s The Botanic Garden, 1791-1792"

Shannon Draucker, “Hearing, Sensing, Feeling Sound: On Music and Physiology in Victorian England, 1857-1894”

David Rettenmaier
5 Apr 1815

Eruption of Tambora

Mount TamboraEruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia on 5 April 1815. Image: the summit caldera of Mount Tambora. This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted."

This geological event led to the “Year Without a Summer,” the worldwide effect of atmospheric debris and aerosols on climate and crops, especially severe in Eastern North America, Western Europe, and China. In fact, the "Year Without a Summer" belongs to a three-year period of severe climate deterioration of global scope caused by the eruption. With plummeting temperatures, and disruption to major weather systems, human communities across the globe faced crop failures, epidemic disease, and civil unrest on a catastrophic scale.

Articles

Gillen D'Arcy Wood, "1816, The Year without a Summer"

Martin Meisel, "On the Age of the Universe"

David Rettenmaier
1 Jan 1840

Royal Mail steamships introduced on Atlantic routes

RMS BritanniaA major factor in the facilitation of international correspondence was the introduction of steamships on the Atlantic routes which could maintain a guaranteed average speed of 8–9 knots per hour from Liverpool to Boston, as compared with sailing ships which were dependent on the strength and direction of the wind. This, coupled with fierce competition between rival shipping companies – principally Cunard and Collins ‒ for the lucrative transatlantic mail and passenger business resulted in the sailing time from Liverpool to Boston being cut from 14 days and 8 hours in 1840 to just 12 days by the mid-1850s. Ultimately, it was the Cunard fleet of ocean steamers – six 1830-ton wooden paddle-steamers: America, Niagara, Europa, Canada, Asia and Africa, which triumphed, and the company was contracted by the Royal Mail to make weekly trips to Boston and New York alternately, except during the period December to March when there was a monthly service. Image: Britannia of 1840, the first Cunard liner built for the transatlantic service. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.

Articles

Susan Donovan, “How the Post Office and Postal Products Shaped Mid-Nineteenth-Century Letter-Writing”

David Rettenmaier
Jan 1857 to Dec 1858

Christopher Dresser, “Botany as Adapted to the Arts and Art-Manufacture”

Figure 1. Christopher Dresser, nature’s diaper patterns, from “Botany as Adapted to the Arts and Art-Manufacture” (1857-1858). Public domain.Christopher Dresser publishes “Botany as Adapted to the Arts and Art-Manufacture” in The Art Journal as an eleven-part essay.

Image: Christopher Dresser, nature’s diaper patterns, from “Botany as Adapted to the Arts and Art-Manufacture” (1857-1858). Public domain.

Articles

Irena Yamboliev, “Christopher Dresser, Physiological Ornamentist”

Related Articles

Wendy S. Williams, "‘Free-and-Easy,’ ‘Japaneasy’: British Perceptions and the 1885 Japanese Village"

Siobhan Carroll, "On Erasmus Darwin’s The Botanic Garden, 1791-1792"

Shannon Draucker, “Hearing, Sensing, Feeling Sound: On Music and Physiology in Victorian England, 1857-1894”

David Rettenmaier
1862

Christopher Dresser, The Art of Decorative Design

Figure 6. Ornamental motifs that evoke the “mental conception” of a leaf-bud. Plate II from Dresser, _The Art of Decorative Design_ (1862). Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries.Expanding on his studies of botany and ornament, the designer Christopher Dresser publishes The Art of Decorative Design, in which he argues that ornamentists should look to the laws that orchestrate plant growth and the laws that condition how the human mind reacts to form. Dresser’s “scientific” approach to design engages with the then-new empirical inquiries into aesthetic perception, the physiological or psychological aesthetics. Exact month of publication unknown.

Image: Plate II from Dresser, The Art of Decorative Design (1862). Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries.

Articles

Irena Yamboliev, “Christopher Dresser, Physiological Ornamentist”

Related Articles

Morna O’Neill, “On Walter Crane and the Aims of Decorative Art”

Wendy S. Williams, "‘Free-and-Easy,’ ‘Japaneasy’: British Perceptions and the 1885 Japanese Village"

Siobhan Carroll, "On Erasmus Darwin’s The Botanic Garden, 1791-1792"

Shannon Draucker, “Hearing, Sensing, Feeling Sound: On Music and Physiology in Victorian England, 1857-1894”

David Rettenmaier
Nov 1869

Suez Canal opens

NASA image of the Suez CanalThe opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 established a far shorter and more efficient route for trade and traffic between Europe and Asia. It also gave new strategic importance to Egypt and East Africa, making knowledge and control of the interior a matter of greater urgency for various states. Image: NASA image of the Suez Canal, taken by MISR satellite on January 30, 2001. This image is in the public domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted."

Related Articles

Dane Kennedy, "The Search for the Nile"

David Rettenmaier
Nov 1890

The Yellow Peril

http://www.branchcollective.org/?attachment_id=3135
A 1913 cover of Sax Rohmer’s The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Macnhu

The Yellow Peril was a term originated in Imperial Germany in the 1890s. This term was a color-metaphor referred to Western fears that Asians, particularly the Chinese, would invade their lands and disrupt Western values, such as democracy, Christianity, and technological innovation. The term of the Yellow Peril spread through Britain with the rise of Chinese populations in the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion (Nov 2, 1899 – Sep 7, 1901). The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising movement against foreigners that occurred at the end of the Qing dynasty in northern China. The Boxer did experienced suppression by allied forces in China; however, the Western anxieties continually increased, which turned into the fears of the “Yellow Peril”. The most recognizable character of “Yellow Peril” was Dr. Fu Manchu, a villain from the series of novels written by a British author Sax Rohmer. Image: A 1913 cover of Sax Rohmer’s The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Macnhu

Articles:

Shanyn Fiske, “Modeling Masculinity: Engendering the Yellow Peril in Fu-Manchu and Thomas Burke’s Limehouse Nights”

Shiqi Deng
Autumn 1899 to 7 Sep 1901

Boxer Rebellion (義和團運動)

By the mid-19th century, Christianity spread and blossomed in China. Churches and Missionaries were all over the country, and this expansion casued conflicts with the local people.

On a microscopic scale, this was seen by the Chinese as a bunch of Westerners spreading their Western degeneracy and eroding Chinese Culture. At the height of the hysteria, rumours were spread where these Westerners were scooping out children's eyeballs and collecting their semen for medicine. (The original term is "陽精" which means "male vitality") Despite the missionaries' attempts to build hospitals and schools for the locals, they are often ignored by the Chinese Locals. In 1868, a plague broke out in a French Monastery that led to the deaths of many babies. This event was seen by the locals as the French Missionaries killing said babies, which led to the public stoning of a French Minister.

On a macroscopic scale, the Qing Dynasty was consistently losing their influence to neighbouring countries due to corruption and a failure to anticipate other countries. These repeated losses include: The Treaty of Nanking (南京條約) (1842), which gave Hong Kong Island to the British after the First Opium War; The Convention of Peking (北京條約(1860), which gave the Kowloon Peninsula to the British and Outer Manchuria to the Russians after the Second Opium War; the Treaty of Aigun (璦琿條約) (1858), which ceded northern Manchuria to Russia;  The Treaty of Tientsin (天津條約) (1858), which opened Chinese Ports to foreign trade and increased missionary activities to foreign countries; The Treaty of Bakan (馬關條約) (1895), which gave Taiwan to Japan. These are just part of the countless treaties where China was unable to defend itself towards foreign powers, but it is generally agreed by historians that the Treaty of Bakan was what ultimately pushed forward this movement.

Around 1900, a group of people named The Yìhétuán (義和團) was established. They branded themselves as a martial arts cult and claimed that by repeating their mantras, followers would be "Impenetrable by blades"and "Unharmed by Cannons". This group of people were backed by the Empress Dowager Cixi at the time. Not only because this faux-populist movement can make the regime appear less like an accountable for any retaliations since it was "self-organized", but the club also changed their motto from "反清復明" (Abolish Qing Restore Ming) to "扶清滅洋" (Help Qing Defeat the West). This mantra helped perpetrate  a reduction in friction between the ruling Manchurians and the ruled Han-Chinese, thereby strengthening Cixi's grasp on the country from Han Nationalists.

After the repeated murders of foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians, the group ended up expanding their movement into Zhili (Modern day Hebei) and killed a German and a Japanese Embassy Staff Member. Cixi declared war against all these nations on June 15th 1900, which ultimately led to the Eight Nation Alliance between England, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and America. The battalion attacked China for its deeds and took over Beijing on August 15th. By October 26th, Cixi surrendered on behalf of China after escaping to Xi'an.

The surrender led to the signing of the Boxer Protocol (辛丑條約) (1901), which led to war reparations and a Chinese exclusion zone withinin Beijing for security reasons: only Westerners can live within this zone in order to prevent another massacre. This ended up being one of the most disgraceful events under the Qing Dynasty. It caused much distrust towards the Manchurian Regime amongst the Chinese populace and an increased support in Sun Yat-sen's revolution.

Academy of Chinese Studies. (一)列強不斷侵華與教案頻生: 中國文化研究院 - 燦爛的中國文明. chiculture.org.hk/tc/photo-story/1729.

Romanization of Treaty names are taken from Wikipedia.

Oscar Wong