Description

Book Synopsis

Owen Jones (1809–1874), a prolific architect, designer, illustrator and printer, was recognised during his lifetime as one of the most influential contemporary figures in art and design theory. This insightful book, the latest in the V&A Nineteenth-Century Series, explores his relationship with the South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria and Albert Museum), from its inauguration in the 1850s through to his death in 1874. With particular focus on the creation of his celebrated volume The Grammar of Ornament (1856), his decorative scheme for the museum’s so-called ‘Oriental Court’ and the preparation of his lesser-known publication Examples of Chinese Ornament (1867), it offers a fascinating exploration of the identity of the early museum and its imperial context.



Table of Contents

Director’s Foreword; Series Editor’s Foreword; Introduction: From the Great Exhibition to the South Kensington Museum; Chapter 1 - ‘An ever-gushing fountain’: The Grammar of Ornament; Chapter 2 - Applied Principles: The ‘Oriental Court’; Chapter 3 - ‘Suggestive Character’: Examples of Chinese Ornament; Conclusion - ‘The Lawgiver of Ornamental Art’; Notes; Further Reading; Acknowledgements; Index.

Owen Jones and the V&A: Ornament for a Modern Age

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    A Hardback by Olivia Horsfall Turner

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      Book details

      Publisher Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
      Published 5 June 2023
      ISBN-13 9781848226012
      978-1848226012
      ISBN-10 1848226012
      Also in:
      Art & Photography Decorative arts History of art Dictionaries, Reference & Language Museology and heritage studies

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Owen Jones (1809–1874), a prolific architect, designer, illustrator and printer, was recognised during his lifetime as one of the most influential contemporary figures in art and design theory. This insightful book, the latest in the V&A Nineteenth-Century Series, explores his relationship with the South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria and Albert Museum), from its inauguration in the 1850s through to his death in 1874. With particular focus on the creation of his celebrated volume The Grammar of Ornament (1856), his decorative scheme for the museum’s so-called ‘Oriental Court’ and the preparation of his lesser-known publication Examples of Chinese Ornament (1867), it offers a fascinating exploration of the identity of the early museum and its imperial context.



      Table of Contents

      Director’s Foreword; Series Editor’s Foreword; Introduction: From the Great Exhibition to the South Kensington Museum; Chapter 1 - ‘An ever-gushing fountain’: The Grammar of Ornament; Chapter 2 - Applied Principles: The ‘Oriental Court’; Chapter 3 - ‘Suggestive Character’: Examples of Chinese Ornament; Conclusion - ‘The Lawgiver of Ornamental Art’; Notes; Further Reading; Acknowledgements; Index.

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