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Hyperallergic

Hyperallergic

Sensitive to Art & its Discontents

Firsts

Posted inArt

How Zarafa, France’s First Giraffe, Became a Cultural Sensation

Avatar photo by Allison Meier December 1, 2017December 1, 2017

In art, fashion, and eccentric hairstyles, the arrival of the first giraffe in France in the 1820s caused a sensation in culture.

Posted inHistory

The First Printed Illustration of a Modern Dissection

Avatar photo by Allison Meier October 2, 2017October 3, 2017

Published in the late 15th century, the Fasciculus Medicinae contains the earliest depiction of a modern dissection, a groundbreaking representation for anatomy.

Dinosaur sculptures in Crystal Palace Park, London (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)
Posted inArt

The First Sculptures of Dinosaurs

Avatar photo by Allison Meier September 1, 2017June 2, 2021

In 1854, the first sculptures of dinosaurs debuted in London’s Crystal Palace Park, where they remain on view today and recall an age of Victorian science.

Posted inArt

The First Photographs of a Solar Eclipse

Avatar photo by Allison Meier August 1, 2017August 1, 2017

Photographers have attempted to document the solar eclipse since 1842, but it took years of experimentation to capture the elusive moment of totality.

Posted inArt

In 1902, Audiences Turned Up Their Noses at the First Perfume Concert

Avatar photo by Allison Meier June 30, 2017July 10, 2017

On a New York stage, a poet and art critic named Sadakichi Hartmann attempted the first perfume concert, and it was a disaster.

Posted inArt

Alice Guy-Blaché, the First Woman Filmmaker

Avatar photo by Allison Meier June 1, 2017June 6, 2017

Alice Guy-Blaché is recognized as the first woman filmmaker, going back to an 1896 silent short, but her career remains unsung in the history of cinema.

Posted inArt

“I Have Seen My Death”: The First X-Ray Photograph

Avatar photo by Allison Meier May 1, 2017May 1, 2017

In December of 1895, Wilhelm Röntgen revealed the bones of his wife’s hand in the first X-ray photograph.

Posted inArt

Egyptian Blue: The First Synthetic Pigment

Avatar photo by Allison Meier April 3, 2017May 31, 2022

The first human-made blue pigment emerged in ancient Egypt, then disappeared for centuries until it was rediscovered in Pompeii.

Posted inArt

The First Known Depiction of the Cosmos Adorns a 3,600-Year-Old Disk

Avatar photo by Allison Meier March 1, 2017July 13, 2022

Discovered in 1999 in Germany, the 3,600-year-old Nebra Sky Disk is recognized as the oldest known depiction of cosmic phenomena.

Posted inBooks

The First Known Printed Bookplate

Avatar photo by Allison Meier February 1, 2017October 15, 2022

Dating to 1480, the oldest known printed bookplate is part of a centuries-long history of personalization by book lovers.

Posted inArt

The First Known Photograph of the White House

Avatar photo by Allison Meier January 2, 2017January 3, 2017

A Welsh immigrant named John Plumbe, Jr., who was one of the country’s first prominent professional photographers, took the daguerreotype in January 1846.

Posted inArt

The First Photographs of Snowflakes

Avatar photo by Allison Meier December 1, 2016December 19, 2022

In 1885, Wilson Bentley, a farmer in Vermont, became the first known person to photograph a snowflake. He would document 5,000 of them in his lifetime.

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Hyperallergic is a forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking about art in the world today. Founded in 2009, Hyperallergic is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.

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