Owen Jones: Design, Ornament, Architecture & Theory in an Age of Transition (Hardcover)

by Carol A. Hrvol Flores (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Owen Jones was, and still remains, a highly influential force in the world of architecture and design. His prolific and impressive work—captured here in its various stages through drawings, architectural plans, and photographs—is as current, imaginative, and important now as when it first emerged more than 125 years ago. Owen Jones: Design, Ornament, Architecture & Theory in an Age in Transition fills a serious gap in the history of Victorian design. In his early career Jones was recognized as an authority on Oriental design. In the 1850s he was commissioned to decorate the interior of Joseph Paxton's magnificent World's Fair Crystal Palace in London. Other signature projects include St. James' Hall, the Crystal Palace Bazaar, Osler's Glass Shop, and Eynsham Hall at Oxford. In 1856 he completed his monumental Grammar of Ornament, which remains one of the most influential works on design ever published and is a source for many artists and designers today. More than just an architect, Jones' skills were applied to designing interiors, books, textiles, furniture, and carpet. His philosophy can most accurately be expressed in his words, "Form without color is like a body without a soul."

About the Author
Carol A. Hrvol Flores is associate professor in the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University and is currently program chair of the Nineteenth-Century Association. She is widely recognized as a leading authority on Owen Jones.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli (April 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847828042
• ISBN-13: 978-0847828043
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 10.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #928,121 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely to look at, delightful to own, and heaven to read..., June 6, 2006

By	Lucille Gordon "art lover" (New York,, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is in the best tradition of the book beautiful. A wonderful looking book that also is a joy to read. Do not mistake this for a coffee table book. You will want to read the well organized and readable text as well as revel in its vivid illustrations.

Carol Flores skillfully escorts us through the artistic life of a colorful and influential 19th Century English architect/designer who is almost unknown in the U.S. despite the fact that his book, "the Grammar of Ornament", a collection of designs from earliest civilizations to the renaissance, is still in use (and print).

Not only can we easily absorb Jones' artistic philosophy which aimed to awaken a new era of English architecture and design, the reader can understand the influences that shaped it, see the drawings of his many projects, and enjoy his spectacular textile and wallpaper designs.

I loved it.