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

为帝国服务：P

• 批准号: AH/I024704/1
• 负责人: Anne Massey
• 金额: $ 7.68万
• 依托单位: Kingston University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Training Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2011 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FI024704%2F1
• 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的工作，以调查航运公司，半岛和东方蒸汽航行公司（1840年更名为P & O）及其子公司，在其运营期间的档案。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。利用在国家海事博物馆和P & O的Caird图书馆保存的丰富档案资源，学生将询问英国帝国主义和视觉文化的历史之间的联系。该公司是一个理想的案例研究，因为它在东方为大英帝国服务，在整个大英帝国时期和新联邦时期，在英国，非洲，印度，远东和澳大拉西亚之间运输邮件，货物和乘客。P & O不仅在地理和时间上的传播使其成为一家独特而重要的公司;它委托的船只不是在跨大西洋航线上看到的刻板的豪华远洋客轮，而是具有现代主义和历史主义内饰的小型船只。因此，公认的远洋班轮设计的历史，这仍然是占主导地位的研究'浮动酒店'将受到挑战，与研究更温和的船只。学生将涉及1929年的“印度总督”的分析，第一个其内部设计由一个女人，并纳入英国乡村别墅风格。为什么这对印度之旅来说是合适的？相比之下，1936年的“猎户座”使用现代主义设计师来容纳从英国到澳大利亚的乘客。为什么觉得这样更合适？该研究项目将调查船舶内部设计与公司委托的平面设计之间的联系，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，其中包括丰富的菜单卡，广告材料和其他平面设计的例子，许多直接来自P & O。博物馆还收藏了与公司特别相关的手稿、商业记录和物质文化的重要藏品。为了补充这项研究，学生还将调查总部设在伦敦的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有关的主要研究材料。该项目还将调查P & O艺术收藏，以探索该公司的价值观，抱负，企业抱负和企业形象战略如何得到艺术和艺术家的赞助，以及为其船舶和建筑物委托艺术的支持。该项目将分析视觉和书面来源，以确定公司如何看待自己，艺术家和设计师如何被委托，P & O如何通过视觉手段公开展示自己，以及这与英国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，并将其与公司以及大英帝国和英联邦的历史联系起来。时间也将致力于研究二手资料，包括公司历史和最近对帝国主义的研究。第二年将在P & O的伦敦总部度过，对那里的艺术和设计收藏进行研究。这将得到继续探索二手资料来源的支持。工作将开始，以确定在维多利亚时期和进入上个世纪，P & O与表现和设计有关的最突出的方面。第三年将进一步吸收研究结果，并将其与维多利亚时代的设计联系起来。