Owen Jones and the Grammar of Ornament

The images are from the 1868 edition of the Grammar of Ornament, by Owen Jones (NK 1510.J7 1868 Special Collections)   Owen Jones (b London, 15 Feb 1809; d London, 19 April 1874). English architect and designer. The son of a Welsh antiquary and furrier of the same name, Owen Jones was educated at Charterhouse School, London, before becoming a pupil of the architect Lewis Vuillamy (1791-1871). Following his apprenticeship he set out in 1832 for the Continent on a Grand Tour. In Greece Jones met Jules Goury (1803-34), a young French architect; both travelers had become fascinated by Classical architectural polychromy. In order to pursue this study further they visited Egypt, Turkey and Spain, where they undertook a detailed survey of the Alhambra. After Goury died of cholera in 1834, Jones completed their research, finally printing and publishing it himself as Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra (2 vols; London, 1842-5). His initial publication of the work in 1836-7 was never completed, but the three numbers that appeared (out of ten planned) were the first examples of chromolithography of any consequence to appear in Britain. This quickly led to other similar work for commercial publishers, such as an illuminated edition of J. G. Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads (London, 1841). Until the mid-1850s, when his expanding architectural practice would no longer permit it, Jones was as much a printer as an architect.

Arabian Ornament from Cairo. Plate XXXII, #22: Wooden Stringcourse Pulpit.             Indian Ornament from the exhibitions of 1851 and 1855 Plate LIV: Specimen of Painted Lacquer-work from the Collection at the India House

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Jones believed passionately that the 19th century should produce a recognizable style of its own that would result not simply from the study of past styles but from the adoption of new materials. In attempting to carry through this ideology in his own work in the 1840s Jones relied heavily on Islamic sources and was much criticized as a result. Perhaps the most successful building with which he was then concerned was Christ Church (1840-42), Streatham, London, designed by James William Wild (1814-92), who was his brother-in-law. Jones was responsible for the interior decoration and may also have influenced the exterior, with its brick polychromy and Islamic details. He was well known in the 1840s for the design of mosaic and tessellated pavements in geometric patterns. He published two books on this subject and in 1844 submitted a design for the floors of the new Palace of Westminster which, although praised, was not accepted.

Medieval Ornament Plate LXVII Collection of borders from Illuminated MSS., from the 9th-14th centuries

Jones's work at the Crystal Palace led him to realize that the principles embodied in earlier art were more important to designers than the forms themselves. In 1852 he began to lecture at the newly formed Department of Science and Art, which was founded by his friend Henry Cole. In these lectures Jones expounded his philosophy that ornament should be based on geometry. With Cole's help Jones evolved his principles into 37 axioms of design, which appeared in his influential publication the Grammar of Ornament (London, 1856), illustrated with examples of historical styles of ornament. Cole perceived this book as a method of spreading knowledge of then collections at the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum).

Jones's involvement in the Great Exhibition brought his name prominently before the public both as an architect and as a decorator, and many commissions quickly followed. The most important buildings that he designed were the St James's Concert Hall (1856; destr. 1905), Piccadilly, London; the Crystal Palace Bazaar (1857; destr. 1890), Oxford Street, London; and a gallery (1858; destr. 1926), also in Oxford Street, for F.C. Osler, the glass manufacturers. Like other designs for 'crystal palaces' on Muswell Hill, London, and at St Cloud, Paris, which were not carried out, these buildings relied to a great extent on iron and glass to produce large spaces ornamented with rich polychromatic patterns. The results were much admired, but the applications for such a building type were comparatively limited; when Jones had to produce more conventional essays in brick, mortar and stone-- as, for example, in his unsuccessful design of 1865 for the St Pancras Station and Hotel-- the shortcomings of his approach were revealed. Consequently, towards the end of his career Jones was increasingly concerned with decoration and the design of patterns for manufacturers rather than with architecture.

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Jones carried out decorative schemes for domestic interiors, working in collaboration with the London firm of Jackson Graham. His work for Alfred Morrison included interiors in his country house at Fonthill (c.1863; destr. 20th century), Wilts, and his town house at 16 Carlton House Terrace (1867), London, which contained some fine examples of inlaid and carved work in the Moorish and other styles. He designed interiors at the house of James Mason, Eynsham Hall (1872; rebuilt 1906), Oxford. The extensive work for Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, in 1864 involved the prefabrication of the interiors by Jackson Graham in London before their shipment and installation in Cairo. Jones's most important decorative schemes for public buildings were those for the Langham Hotel (1864) and for the Fishmongers' Hall (1865), both in London. Jones worked closely with several firms: he designed wallpapers for Trumble Sons and for Jeffrey Co.; carpets for James Templeton Co. and for Brinton; silks for Benjamin Warner; and numerous paper items for the firm of De la Rue, to name but a few. His association with De la Rue over thirty years covered virtually all the items produced by the firm, from playing cards to stamps. The packaging they produced from Jones's designs for Huntley Palmer, the biscuit manufacturers, involved the establishment of a clear house style and is an early example of the modern approach to graphic design and marketing.

 

*************************** BIBLIOGRAPHY M. Darby and D. van Zanten: "Owen Jones's Iron Buildings of the 1850s", Architectura [Munich], iv (1974), pp. 53-75 D. van Zanten: The Architectural Polychromy of the 1830s (New York, 1977) M. Darby: The Islamic Perspective: An Aspect of British Architecture and Design in the 19th Century (London, 1983) [incl. extensive list of Jones's pubns]   MICHAEL DARBY From the Grove Art Online

Persian Ornament. Plate XLVI Ornaments from Persian MSS. in the British Museum #21