Owen Jones is an architect and a designer
of welsh descent; who was born from London. He studied at the Royal Academy
School and traveled to Italy and then Greece where he met Jules Goury who
studied the use of paint and color to enhance architecture and statuary by the
ancient Greeks.
Goury and Jones traveled to Egypt and
carried out intricate studies of the Alhambra palace, and its Islamic
decorations. This was finally finished by Jones and published the works in ‘Plans,
elevations, sections and details of the Alhambra’.
The studies of the Alhambra were highly
significant in the development of his interest in ornament. Jones and Goury
observed the harmony of Moorish decoration was achieved through the use of
primary colours with secondary and tertiary colors used in the backgrounds.
Jones was responsible for the interior decoration
of Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace and also the arrangement of the exhibits
inside for the Great Exhibition of 1851. This brought him attention from the
public and also gave him the chance to test out his colour theories. For the
interior he based the colour scheme on the primary colors of red, yellow and
blue.
Jones presented his theories on decoration,
ornament and polychromy in lectures at the Society of Art and the government
school of design. Henry Cole, who was the mastermind of the Great Exhibition,
encouraged Jones on the publication of his great work, ‘The Grammer of Ornament’.
This book presented in color many examples
of ornament from a wide range of counties. The book contains:
·
100 detailed color plates of
ornaments drawn from architecture
·
Textiles
·
Tiles
·
Rare books
·
Metalwork
·
Stained glass
·
And other decorative arts.
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