Owen Jones (architect)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Owen Jones (15 February 1809 - 19 April 1874) was a British architect and decorative artist.
The son of Owen Jones, a Welsh furrier and antiquary, he was born and died in London. After an apprenticeship of six years in an architect's office, he travelled for four years in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Spain, making a special study of the Alhambra. On his return to England in 1836 he busied himself in his profession.
His forte was interior decoration, for which his formula was: "Form without color is like a body without a soul." He was one of the superintendents of works for the Exhibition of 1851 and was responsible for the general decoration of The Crystal Palace at Sydenham. Along with Matthew Digby Wyatt, Jones collected the casts of the art works that filled the palace. Jones set up the original Museum of Manufacturers, a predecessor to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Grammar of Ornament became an important tool of the period by introducing designers to decorative arts from other cultures where Jones traveled. Over 3000 full-page illustrations of ornament from Chinese, Persian, Indian and Arabic styles, reproduced with the newly developed chromolithography process. The choice of color used in the book was considered as important and influential as the ornamental designs.
Owen Jones was described in the Builder for 1874 as "the most potent apostle of color that architectural England has had in these days." His range of activity is to be traced in his works:
- Plans, Elevations and Details of the Alhambra (1835-1845), in which he was assisted by MM. Goury and Gayangos
- Designs for Mosaic and Tesselated Pavements (1842)
- Encaustic Tiles (1843)
- Polychromatic Ornament of Italy (1845)
- An Attempt to Define the Principles which regulate the Employment of Color in Decorative Arts (1852)
- Handbook to the Alhambra Court (1854)
- Grammar of Ornament (folio, 1856; quarto, 1868–1910), a highly influential book in ornamentation and decorative arts
- One Thousand and One Initial Letters (1864)
- Seven Hundred and Two Monograms (1864)
- Examples of Chinese Ornament (1867)
[edit] See also
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
Category:Grammar of Ornament - additional images
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Lewis, Philippa & Darley, G. (1986) Dictionary of Ornament NY: Pantheon ISBN 0394509315
