Beauty+Utility [the politics of design]
The True Principles of Pointed Architecture, A.W.N. Pugin, 1841
Industrialization
Honoré Daumier, “Third-class Carriage,” 1860s
Today half of the world’s population lives in cities: 3 billion, compared to 1.5 billion 30 years ago.
Industrialisation in Nineteenth-century Britain
It is not, truly speaking, the labor that is divided but the men –divided into mere segments of men – broken into mere segments of men –broken into small fragments and crumbs of life; so that all the
little pieces of intelligence that is left in a man is not enough to make a pin, or a nail, but exhausts itself in making the point of a pin, or the head of a nail. John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, 1853
The purpose of applying art to articles of utility is two-fold; first, to add beauty to the results of the work of man, which would otherwise be ugly; and secondly, to add pleasure to the work itself, which would otherwise be painful and disgusting. William Morris, The Arts and Crafts of Today, 1889
Nineteenth-century Design Reform:
looking back, looking ahead
The unity imposed on all of the arts might also serve as a metaphor for an ideal world in which all individuals are unified by a single faith and live in harmony with society. -Margaret Belcher
The True Principles of Pointed Architecture, A.W.N. Pugin, 1841
Nineteenth-century Design Reform: looking back, looking ahead
A.W.N. Pugin Scarisbrick Hall, 1836
False Principles: imitation of architecture, ornament constructed
Putty pressing, plaster and iron casting for ornaments . . . are not to be rejected because such methods were unknown to our ancestors, but on account of their being opposed in their very nature to the true principles of art and design -- by substituting monotonous repetitions for beautiful
variety, flatness of execution for bold relief, encouraging cheap and false magnificence, and reducing the varied principles of ornamental design. A. W. N. Pugin, An Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture in England, 1843
Octagonal oak table from the Prince’s chamber, Palace of Westminster, by A.W.N. Pugin, c.1830s
Typical Victorian plate c.1850s
Bread plate A.W.N. Pugin for Minton, 1849
Henry Cole and Design Education
Sir Henry Cole and Richard Redgrave; photograph attributed to Charles T. Thompson
Henry Cole and Design Education
True Principles:
nature as model for ornament appropriate ornament for object (and use) abstraction in representation
Richard Redgrave, “Well-spring� vase 1857
Henry Cole and Design Education
False principles: imitation of nature inappropriate decoration for function ornament constructed
This was exhibited as demonstrating 'False Principles of Decoration’ Amongst the errors of this design were the 'falsifying the perspective' by repetition of the architectural view.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/prints_books/features/Wallpaper/Design_Re form/index.html
True principles
False principles
Owen Jones and 'The Grammar of Ornament' (1856)
Wallpaper with formalised floral motif, by Owen Jones (1809-74), England, Mid-19th century Colour print from woodblocks
Flowers or other natural objects should not be used as ornaments, but conventional representations founded upon them sufficiently suggestive to convey the intended image to the mind, without destroying the unity of the object they are employed to decorate.� Owen Jones, The Grammar of Ornament, 1856
Owen Jones, The Grammar of Ornament, 1856
William Morris, Acanthus, Wallpaper, Color Print from Woodblock, c. 1870s
The Great Exhibition of 1851 [The Crystal Palace]
The Great Exhibition of 1851 [The Crystal Palace]
The Great Exhibition seemed to promise the fulfillment of universal progress, ingenuity, prosperity, and peace. --David Raizman
Pugin’s Gothic Court at the Great Exhibition, London, 1851
Design reform: didactic aspirations or good design?
contemporary design reform: sustainable design [?]
Urban Orchard Project, London, 2010
GE WATTStation by Fuseproject