Kaleidoscopic Imagination

摘要

If any instrument can represent the multiplication of the visible in terms of nineteenth-century mass production and consumption, it is the kaleidoscope. Although preceded by such devices as the "multiplying glass" and the "dragonfly," none of these playthings achieved the paradigmatic status enjoyed by David Brewster's 1816 invention, a status that persisted until the first quarter of the twentieth century. For almost one hundred years this philosophical toy exerted considerable influence on artistic, industrial, and craft production.