Ornamentation research file

An investigation into the contemporary decorative impulse in the western domestic interior

[33247709ornamentation]

“The tendency of the genteel middle class to ignore harsh realities while attempting to live in an idealized world of sentimental beauty”

[33247709ornamentation]

“The wallpapers and fabrics of Morris create a sense of growth in which plant forms extend beyond themselves. The metaphorical sense of organic movement is significant in its departure from the habitual separation of art and politics into discrete objects of historical interest Rather than merely thinking of the decorative as a schematic and generalized effect it becomes explicit in its meaning.”

[33247709ornamentation]

REVERENCE

[33247709ornamentation]

WONDER

[33247709ornamentation]

“Today, his designs are considered by many, especially in England, to be benchmarks of good taste and respectability. The fact that he was a socialist is of little consequence to the consumers of Morris-inspired products...an example of capitalism’s “uncanny ability to absorb radicalism into the dominant culture.”

David Mabb

[rosesappho]

“Edges, borders, fringes, rims, surfaces, points of focus, and the modulation of light and colour are all required for a pleasurable navigation through the world of objects, places, and spaces. They are primary aids to what is now frequently called ‘visual intelligence’.”

David Brett (via rosesappho)

[rosesappho]

“Sights, sounds and textures combine to provoke in him a wondering exultation in which he conceives his own life as an integral element of the natural environment and recognizes its share in its vibrancy and vitality.”

Phillippa Bennett  

[33247709ornamentation]

“There is no square mile of earth’s inhabitable surface that is not beautiful in its own way, if we men will only abstain from wilfully destroying that beauty.” –

William Morris

[33247709ornamentation]

Looking at the influence of Morris in the 21st Century

[33247709ornamentation]

His “concern with the wonderment generated by the prospects and details of more familiar landscapes.” It was important for the subject and content of his designs to be familiar.

Phillippa Bennett

[33247709ornamentation]

“For people, buildings and the natural environment to inspire awe and reverence, and to generate appreciation and respect, Morris knew that the social and economic relations fostered by capitalism would have to be transformed. He understood that our sense of wonder at each other and at the world in which we live is inevitably suppressed and dissipated in conditions of social exploitation and environmental degradation – that when the interests of profit and utility dominate, the opportunities for wonder decline.”

[33247709ornamentation]

[33247709ornamentation]

[33247709ornamentation]

Looking at the influence of William Morris's aesthetic ideology in the 21st century

[rosesappho]

[33247709ornamentation]

“To turn our chamber walls into the green woods of the leafy month of June, populous of bird and beast…that surely was worth the trouble of doing.”

- William Morris

[33247709ornamentation]

Why are some people drawn to minimalist architecture and others to Baroque? Why are some people excited by bare concrete walls and others by William Morris’s floral patterns? Our tastes will depend on what spectrum of our emotional make-up lies in shadow and is hence in need of stimulation and emphasis. Every work of art is imbued with a particular psychological and moral atmosphere: a painting may be either serene or restless, courageous or careful, modest or confident, masculine or feminine, bourgeois or aristocratic, and our preferences for one kind over another reflect our varied psychological gaps. We hunger for artworks that will compensate for our inner fragilities and help return us to a viable mean. We call a work beautiful when it supplies the virtues we are missing, and we dismiss as ugly one that forces on us moods or motifs that we feel either threatened or already overwhelmed by. Art holds out the promise of inner wholeness.

http://www.brainpickings.org/2013/10/25/art-as-therapy-alain-de-botton-john-armstrong/ 

- Art as Therapy, Alain de Botton

[vagabondzine]

William De Morgan - Persian style tiles, Merton Abbey 1882-1888.