Serving the Empire: P&O, Design, Identity and Representation, 1837 to 1969.

为帝国服务：P

• 批准号: AH/I024704/2
• 负责人: Anne Massey
• 金额: $ 5.09万
• 依托单位: Middlesex University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Training Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FI024704%2F2
• 关键词: Serving; Empire; P&O; Design; Identity

This project will support the work of one doctoral student to investigate the archives of the shipping company, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (renamed P&O in 1840), and its subsidiary companies, during the period of its operation. The main focus of the research project is to analyse how P&O used artists and designers to represent its corporate mission and identity. Using the wealth of archival sources held in the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum and at P & O, the student will interrogate links between the history of British Imperialism and visual culture. The company makes an ideal case study, as it served the British Empire in the East, transporting mail, goods and passengers between Britain, Africa, India, the Far East and Australasia throughout the time of the British Empire and into the period of the New Commonwealth. It is not only the geographical and temporal spread of P&O which makes it a unique and important company; the ships it commissioned were not the stereotypical, luxury ocean liners seen on the transatlantic route, but smaller scale ships with modernist as well as historicist interiors. Hence the accepted history of ocean liner design, which is still dominated by studies of the 'floating hotel' will be challenged, with a study of more modest vessels. The studentship will involve an analysis of the 1929 'Viceroy of India', the first whose interiors were designed by a woman and incorporating the English country house style. Why was this appropriate for the journey to India? By contrast, the 1936 'Orion' used modernist designers to accommodate passengers on the journey from England to Australia. Why was this felt to be more appropriate? The research project will then investigate the links between the ships' interior design and the graphic design commissioned by the company to communicate an appropriate corporate identity. The National Maritime Museum holds an important ephemera collection, which comprises a rich source of menu cards, advertising material, and other examples of graphic design, many originating directly from P&O. The Museum also holds important collections of manuscripts, business records, and material culture that relate specifically to the company. To complement this research, the student will also investigate the P&O Heritage Collection, based in London, which includes posters and artwork commissioned by the company as well as holding primary research material relating to the company's internal and external business affairs and transactions. The project will also investigate the P&O Art Collection to explore how the company's values, aspirations, corporate ambitions and corporate identity strategies were supported by the patronage of the arts and of artists, and in the commissioning of art for its ships and buildings. The project will analyse visual and written sources to ascertain how the company saw itself, how artists and designers were commissioned, how P&O presented itself publicly through visual means and how this relates to the broader context of British Imperialism and post-colonialism. Year one will be spent mainly at the National Maritime Museum, investigating the P&O Archive, and relating this to the history of the company and of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Time will also be devoted to researching secondary sources including company histories and recent research on Imperialism. Year two will be spent partly at P&O's London Headquarters, undertaking research into the art and design collection there. This will be supported by the continued exploration of secondary sources. Work will begin on ascertaining what the most salient aspects of P&O in relation to representation and design during the Victorian period and into the last century.Year three will be spent further assimilating the research findings and relating these to t

该项目将支持一名博士生调查该航运公司、半岛东方轮船公司（1840 年更名为 P&O）及其子公司在运营期间的档案。该研究项目的主要重点是分析 P&O 如何利用艺术家和设计师来代表其企业使命和身份。学生将利用国家海事博物馆凯尔德图书馆和 P&O 馆藏的丰富档案资源，探究大英帝国主义历史与视觉文化之间的联系。该公司是一个理想的研究案例，因为它为东方的大英帝国提供服务，在大英帝国时期和新英联邦时期在英国、非洲、印度、远东和澳大利亚之间运输邮件、货物和乘客。 P&O 的地理和时间分布使其成为一家独特而重要的公司，这不仅是因为它在地理和时间上的分布。它委托建造的船舶不是跨大西洋航线上常见的豪华远洋客轮，而是具有现代主义和历史主义内饰的小型船舶。因此，远洋客轮设计的公认历史仍然以“浮动酒店”的研究为主，而对更普通船舶的研究将受到挑战。学生项目将涉及对 1929 年“印度总督”的分析，这是第一座室内设计由女性设计并融入英国乡村别墅风格的建筑。为什么这适合去印度旅行？相比之下，1936 年的“猎户座”采用现代主义设计来为从英国到澳大利亚的乘客提供服务。为什么感觉这样更合适？然后，该研究项目将调查船舶内部设计与公司委托的图形设计之间的联系，以传达适当的企业形象。国家海事博物馆拥有重要的蜉蝣收藏品，其中包括丰富的菜单卡、广告材料和其他平面设计示例，其中许多直接源自 P&O。博物馆还收藏有与公司具体相关的重要手稿、商业记录和物质文化。为了补充这项研究，学生还将调查位于伦敦的 P&O Heritage Collection，其中包括公司委托制作的海报和艺术品，以及与公司内部和外部业务和交易相关的主要研究材料。该项目还将调查 P&O 艺术收藏，以探索公司的价值观、愿望、企业抱负和企业形象战略如何得到艺术和艺术家的赞助以及船舶和建筑艺术品委托的支持。该项目将分析视觉和书面资料，以确定公司如何看待自己、如何委托艺术家和设计师、P&O 如何通过视觉手段公开展示自己，以及这与大英帝国主义和后殖民主义的更广泛背景有何关系。第一年将主要在国家海事博物馆度过，调查 P&O 档案馆，并将其与该公司以及大英帝国和英联邦的历史联系起来。我们还将投入时间研究二手资料，包括公司历史和最近对帝国主义的研究。第二年的部分时间将在 P&O 伦敦总部度过，对那里的艺术和设计收藏进行研究。这将得到对二手来源的持续探索的支持。工作将开始确定维多利亚时期和上世纪 P&O 与表现和设计相关的最突出的方面。第三年将进一步吸收研究结果并将其与目标联系起来。