THE KALEIDOSCOPE

In 1816 the Scottish physicist Sir David Brewster invented the kaleidoscope during experimentation with the refraction of light. Before he knew it, competitors had pirated his unpatented design and produced them commercially. Two hundred thousand were sold in Paris and London alone in a three-month period following its discovery. By 1822, a British traveller in America was surprised to find that the kaleidoscope was fabricated "in quantities so great", that is was given "as a plaything to
children".

The kaleidoscope transformed the way Americans looked at the world. Most importantly, it gave great impetus to the use of non-symbolic decoration--decoration that did not directly represent an identifiable theme of any kind. Such ornament represented an affirmation primarily of the person who experienced it and of the emotional response it generated for him or her. For two decades--until the camera re-oriented the eye toward realistic detail--abstract ornamentation inspired by the kaleidoscope was one of the hallmarks of the fancy style.