Eight Owen Jones Chromolithographs from The Grammar of Ornament

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Eight Owen Jones Chromolithographs from The Grammar of Ornament

About the Item

OWEN JONES (1809-1874) From The Grammar Of Ornament Chromolithographs Paper size: 20 x 13 1/2” ; Framed size: 27 1/2 x 205/8” England 1856 Towards the middle of the 19th century, as the European industrial revolution thundered ever onward, as Empire expanded ever outward, and the Romantic upheaval carried before it the fevered artistic imaginations of poet, painter, novelist, architect, and musician alike, there were some who had begun to see that not all this was movement for the good. There was a profusion of artistic plagiarism and stylistic muddle, as the western world too often settled for the simple copying of exotic ornaments which spoke out against such confused and vulgar jumble: men such as Ruskin and William Morris, and pioneering groups such as the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood, the Art Workers Guild, the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society and, eventually f the new wave of aesttetic thinking towards the end of the century that came to be known as Art Nouveau. Contemporary with the pre-Raphaelithes, and a precursor and inspirartion to many of the ideas in the Arts and Crafts Movement, was one Owen Jones (1806-89), architect, designer, and teacher of Applied Arts at the South Kensington School of Design. Jones was fascinated by the oriental, the medieval and the Hispanic, traveling the Middle East in 1833 and Spain in 1834. But his strong conviction was that historical and exotic styles should by used as sources primarily of inspiration rather than for imitation, and insisted, as Ruskin did, on honesty to one's materials and on soundness of crafsmanship-in short, on artistic integrity. Such was his standing by the time he reached his middle forties that he was appointed Superintendent of Works for the Great Exhibition of 1851, and his decorations and color design for the Crystal Palace there were highly praised. Drawing on all his first-hand experience as well as his clearly-articulated theories and teaching practice, Jones set to work on a vast, near-encyclopedic reference of ornamental style, form and color that would encompass all his knowledge and ideas on decorative art, and act as a source-book and inspiration to others. The result was The Grammar of Ornament, first published in 1856, just five years before William Morris founded "The Firm" (Morris, Marshall, Faulkener & Co.) and the Arts and Crafts movement began to get under way. It has been described as "monumental" and a ''lavish cornucopia of decorated surfaces". Certainly as a comprehensive gathering together of ornamental splendour there had never been, nor probably has been since, anything like it.

Creator:
Owen Jones (Artist)
Sold As:
Set of 8
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1856
Condition:
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU88891122432