Indian textiles & Empire: Owen Jones
Indian Court at the Great Exhibition, 1851 by Joseph Nash, Museum no. 19536.11
The 1851 Great Exhibition, held in London's Hyde Park, was the first of a series of international exhibitions to be held in major world cities. It was the impetus for the establishment of the Museum of Manufactures at Marlborough House, London, which eventually became the South Kensington (later Victoria and Albert) Museum, and for the British system of art and design education.
The exhibition also provided the British public's first major exposure to artefacts and natural products from the Indian subcontinent, which formed part of the colonial displays. Of these, the Indian textiles made a particular impact on the individuals trying to promote the cause of design reform and education.
Portrait of Owen Jones, circa 1862-1871, Museum no. P.14-1934
One of these reformers was the architect Owen Jones (1809-1874), who in 1856 published 'The Grammar of Ornament', a superb printed book with 112 colour plates illustrating exemplary patterns and designs taken from various decorative traditions, many of them non-western.
The section devoted to 'Indian Ornament' took its examples from objects shown in 1851 and at the 1855 Paris Exhibition. In comparison to the 'fruitless struggle after novelty, irrespective of fitness' that he found in European manufactures, Jones found in the Indian work, 'all the principles, all the unity, all the truth, for which we had looked elsewhere in vain.'
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Owen Jones Square Silk Scarf||EVAEX
The clean, fresh patterns and designs developed by British designer Owen Jones for 'The Grammar of Ornament' continue to resonate today - our beautifu…
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