Owen Jones and the V&A: Ornament for a Modern Age

SKU: 9781848226012

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.

About the author

Dr Olivia Horsfall Turner is a historian of architecture and design and a Senior Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

After studying at Cambridge, Yale and University College London, and undertaking a research fellowship at Trinity College Dublin, she went on to become an Architectural Investigator at English Heritage and an Historian with the Survey of London.

In 2014 she joined the Victoria and Albert Museum where she is Senior Curator of the design drawings collection, including the collection of architectural drawings. She lectures on a variety of subjects and has broadcast for BBC4 and Radio 3.