Overview

Owen Jones (1809–1874), a prolific architect, designer, illustrator and printer, was recognised during his lifetime as one of the most influential contemporary figures in art and design theory. This insightful book, the latest in the V&A Nineteenth-Century Series, explores his relationship with the South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria and Albert Museum), from its inauguration in the 1850s through to his death in 1874. With particular focus on the creation of his celebrated volume The Grammar of Ornament (1856), his decorative scheme for the museum’s so-called ‘Oriental Court’ and the preparation of his lesser-known publication Examples of Chinese Ornament (1867), it offers a fascinating exploration of the identity of the early museum and its imperial context.

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9781848226012

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Reviews

‘In Owen Jones and the V&A: Ornament for a modern age (Lund Humphries), Olivia Horsfall Turner deftly places Jones in the vanguard of the design revolution, charting his key role in the decoration of the Great Exhibition and the V&A’s “Oriental Court”, and highlighting his equally innovative Examples of Chinese Ornament (1867). Horsfall Turner is level-headed about Jones’s “Orientalism”, but concludes that he decisively put non-western design sources centre stage.’ – James Hall, *TLS Books of the Year *

‘In Owen Jones and the V&A: Ornament for a modern age (Lund Humphries), Olivia Horsfall Turner deftly places Jones in the vanguard of the design revolution, charting his key role in the decoration of the Great Exhibition and the V&A’s “Oriental Court”, and highlighting his equally innovative Examples of Chinese Ornament (1867). Horsfall Turner is level-headed about Jones’s “Orientalism”, but concludes that he decisively put non-western design sources centre stage.’ – James Hall, *TLS Books of the Year * 'Horsfall Turner’s book makes a fundamental contribution to the recognition of Owen Jones’s place in the history of Victorian art. It also has the strong merit of demonstrating that ornament is not just mere decoration but is always at the centre of much more complex sociopolitical and economic dynamics.' – Ariane Varela Braga, The Burlington Magazine

Author Information

Olivia Horsfall Turner is Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where she looks after the collection of design drawings which document the creative process in art, architecture and design from the fourteenth century to the present day. She also writes, lectures and broadcasts about architecture, history and ideas.

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