Owen Jones (architect)
Owen Jones (15 February 1809 – 19 April 1874) was a British architect, decorative artist, author and educator. Through his efforts to publish his findings on the historic use of colour in decoration, he also became one of the pioneers of chromolithography.
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." Only a few of his interiors have survived intact, most notably the town house for Alfred Morrison at 16 Carlton House Terrace and the mosaics and capitals at Christ Church, Streatham Hill.
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.
In 1856 Jones, together with Lord Brougham and others, published a prospectus and designs for a huge 'Palace of the People' at Muswell Hill, north London for the education and recreation of the public. Their idea was eventually realized in 1873 as Alexandra Palace. Although Jones was not personally involved, his ideas on design and colour are apparent in the Palace.
The Grammar of Ornament, a book authored by Jones and first published in 1856, became an important tool of the period by introducing designers to decorative arts from cultures in lands where Jones had traveled or which he had studied. Depending on the edition, 100 or 112 full-page illustrations of ornament from Chinese, Persian, Indian, Arabic and other cultures, were 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 colour 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)
See also
Category:Grammar of Ornament - additional images
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - Lewis, Philippa & Darley, G. (1986) Dictionary of Ornament NY: Pantheon ISBN 0-394-50931-5
