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Social & cultural history

After 1851

The material and visual cultures of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham

Edited by Kate Nichols, Sarah Victoria Turner

Description

Echoing Joseph Paxton's question at the close of the Great Exhibition, 'What is to become of the Crystal Palace?', this interdisciplinary essay collection argues that there is considerable potential in studying this unique architectural and art-historical document after 1851, when it was rebuilt in the South London suburb of Sydenham. It brings together research on objects, materials and subjects as diverse as those represented under the glass roof of the Sydenham Palace itself; from the Venus de Milo to Sheffield steel, souvenir 'peep eggs' to war memorials, portrait busts to imperial pageants, tropical plants to cartoons made by artists on the spot, copies of paintings from ancient caves in India to 1950s film. Essays do not simply catalogue and collect this eclectic congregation, but provide new ways for assessing the significance of the Sydenham Crystal Palace for both nineteenth- and twentieth-century studies. The volume will be of particular interest to researchers and students of British cultural history, museum studies, and art history.
After 1851

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Endorsements

Echoing Joseph Paxton's question at the close of the Great Exhibition, 'What is to become of the Crystal Palace?', this book argues that there is considerable potential in studying this unique architectural and art-historical document after 1851, when it was rebuilt in the South London suburb of Sydenham. It is the first interdisciplinary essay collection to examine the Palace at Sydenham and offers new insights into exhibition cultures in nineteenth and twentieth-century Britain. The essays in this book, spanning 1851 to the present day, aim to foster new thinking about the inter-relationships between nineteenth- and twentieth-century modernities, questioning the normative understanding of a twentieth-century revolt against the 'Victorian'. Chapters bring together research on objects, materials and subjects as diverse as those represented under the glass roof of the Sydenham Palace itself; from the Venus de Milo to Sheffield steel, souvenir 'peep eggs' to war memorials, portrait busts to imperial pageants, tropical plants to cartoons made by artists on the spot, copies of paintings from ancient caves in India to 1950s film. Contributors do not simply catalogue and collect this eclectic congregation but provide new ways for assessing the significance of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham for both nineteenth- and twentieth-century studies. The volume will be of particular interest to researchers and students of British cultural history, museum studies, and art history. It includes a foreword by Isobel Armstrong.

Author Biography

Kate Nichols is Birmingham Fellow in the Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies, University of Birmingham Sarah Victoria Turner is Deputy Director for Research at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

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Manchester University Press

Manchester University Press

Manchester University Press is a leading UK publisher known for excellent research in the humanities and social sciences.

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher Manchester University Press
  • Publication Date February 2017
  • Orginal LanguageEnglish
  • ISBN/Identifier 9780719096495
  • Publication Country or regionUnited Kingdom
  • FormatHardback
  • Primary Price 75 GBP
  • Pages232
  • ReadershipCollege/Tertiary Education
  • Publish StatusPublished
  • Dimensions240 x 170 mm
  • Illustration44 black & white illustrations, 1 table
  • Biblio NotesForeword by Isobel Armstrong 1. 'What is to become of the Crystal Palace?' The Crystal Palace after 1851 - Kate Nichols and Sarah Victoria Turner 2. 'A present from the Crystal Palace': souvenirs of Sydenham, miniature views and Material memory - Verity Hunt 3. The cosmopolitan world of Victorian portraiture: the Crystal Palace portrait gallery, c. 1854 - Jason Edwards 4. The armless artist and the lightning cartoonist: performing popular culture at the Crystal Palace c. 1900 - Ann Roberts 5. '[M]anly beauty and muscular strength': sculpture, sport and the nation at the Crystal Palace, 1854-1918 - Kate Nichols 6. From Ajanta to Sydenham: 'Indian' art at the Sydenham Palace - Sarah Victoria Turner 7. Peculiar pleasure in the ruined Crystal Palace - James Boaden 8. Dinosaurs Don't Die: the Crystal Palace monsters in children's literature, 1854-2001 - Melanie Keene 9. 'A copy - or rather a translation...with numerous sparkling emendations.' Re-rebuilding the Pompeian Court of the Crystal Palace - Shelley Hales and Nic Earle Index

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