DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0260
OF THE WORLD'S INDUSTRY. 219
CHAPTER XXX.
ON COLOUR LN THE DECORATIVE ARTS.
COLOUR EMPLOYED IN ARCHITECTURE BY THE ANCIENTS—COLOUR DEVELOPES POEM —
COLOURING OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION—IMITATIONS—FLOWERS, ETC.—MURAL DECORATIONS
—BEMARKS ON ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION—PROGNOSTIC FOR THE FUTURE.
Having made our readers acquainted with Mr. Digby Wyatt's admirable definition
of the principles which should determine Form,—we will now turn to the no less
successful attempt of Mr. Owen Jones to define those which should regulate Colour,
in the decorative arts:—" It can scarcely too often be repeated," says our author, in
the commencement of his learned discourse, " that among the many advantages which
must result to England from the gathering of the products of the world's industry
in the great exhibition, no one is so prominent as that -we have thereby learned
wherein we were deficient; and although we may gather from the lectures which have
already been delivered before this society a high idea of the power, wealth, and industry
of this great country; of the untiring enterprise which gathers from a distance the pro-
ducts of every clime; of the persevering industry which makes them available to the
wants of man; and we may further witness the constant struggle to utilize every gift of
nature, till truly it may be said, nothing has been made in vain; yet, side by side with
success, we have seen much of labour wasted, much knowledge imperfect, much energy
misapplied: and when we leave the field of science and industry and turn to art, we have
to learn from the Great Exhibition a fruitful lesson; from leading the van in the march
of progress, we must fall into the rear, and suffer to pass before us nations whose efforts
we have hitherto but imperfectly appreciated.
" In the employment of colour we were not only behind some of our European neigh-
bours, but, in common with these, were far outstripped by the nations of the east. Let
us endeavour to trace the cause of this, and, if possible, discover the principles which
in their case have led to so signal a success. As architecture is the great parent of all
ornamentation, it is from the study of architectural monuments that we shall best obtain
a knowledge of the principles which govern the employment of ornament and of colour
generally. In all ages but our own, the same ornaments, the same system of colouring
which prevailed upon their buildings, pervaded all they did, even to their humblest utensils:
the ornaments on a mummy-case are analogous with those of the Egyptian temple ; the
painted vases of the Greeks are but the reflex of the paintings of their temples; the
beautiful cushions and slippers of Morocco of the present day are adorned with similar
ornaments, having the same colours as are to be found on the walls of the Alhambra.
It is far different with ourselves. We have no principles, no unity; the architect, the
upholsterer, the paper-stainer, the weaver, the calico-printer, and the potter, run each
their independent course; each struggles fruitlessly, each produces in art novelty without
beauty, or beauty without intelligence. The architect, the natural head and chief of all
who minister to the comforts and adornments of our homes, has abdicated his high office;
he has been content to form the skeleton which it should also have been his task to clothe,
and has relinquished to inferior and unguided hands, the delicate modelling of the tissues
and the varied colouring of the surface: who can wonder at the discordance and incongruity
of the result? Until very recently, the employment of colour on buildings has had
but few advocates in this country; we are stili imbued with the prejudices left us by
our immediate ancestors and developed in our early education. Although we now know
CHAPTER XXX.
ON COLOUR LN THE DECORATIVE ARTS.
COLOUR EMPLOYED IN ARCHITECTURE BY THE ANCIENTS—COLOUR DEVELOPES POEM —
COLOURING OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION—IMITATIONS—FLOWERS, ETC.—MURAL DECORATIONS
—BEMARKS ON ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION—PROGNOSTIC FOR THE FUTURE.
Having made our readers acquainted with Mr. Digby Wyatt's admirable definition
of the principles which should determine Form,—we will now turn to the no less
successful attempt of Mr. Owen Jones to define those which should regulate Colour,
in the decorative arts:—" It can scarcely too often be repeated," says our author, in
the commencement of his learned discourse, " that among the many advantages which
must result to England from the gathering of the products of the world's industry
in the great exhibition, no one is so prominent as that -we have thereby learned
wherein we were deficient; and although we may gather from the lectures which have
already been delivered before this society a high idea of the power, wealth, and industry
of this great country; of the untiring enterprise which gathers from a distance the pro-
ducts of every clime; of the persevering industry which makes them available to the
wants of man; and we may further witness the constant struggle to utilize every gift of
nature, till truly it may be said, nothing has been made in vain; yet, side by side with
success, we have seen much of labour wasted, much knowledge imperfect, much energy
misapplied: and when we leave the field of science and industry and turn to art, we have
to learn from the Great Exhibition a fruitful lesson; from leading the van in the march
of progress, we must fall into the rear, and suffer to pass before us nations whose efforts
we have hitherto but imperfectly appreciated.
" In the employment of colour we were not only behind some of our European neigh-
bours, but, in common with these, were far outstripped by the nations of the east. Let
us endeavour to trace the cause of this, and, if possible, discover the principles which
in their case have led to so signal a success. As architecture is the great parent of all
ornamentation, it is from the study of architectural monuments that we shall best obtain
a knowledge of the principles which govern the employment of ornament and of colour
generally. In all ages but our own, the same ornaments, the same system of colouring
which prevailed upon their buildings, pervaded all they did, even to their humblest utensils:
the ornaments on a mummy-case are analogous with those of the Egyptian temple ; the
painted vases of the Greeks are but the reflex of the paintings of their temples; the
beautiful cushions and slippers of Morocco of the present day are adorned with similar
ornaments, having the same colours as are to be found on the walls of the Alhambra.
It is far different with ourselves. We have no principles, no unity; the architect, the
upholsterer, the paper-stainer, the weaver, the calico-printer, and the potter, run each
their independent course; each struggles fruitlessly, each produces in art novelty without
beauty, or beauty without intelligence. The architect, the natural head and chief of all
who minister to the comforts and adornments of our homes, has abdicated his high office;
he has been content to form the skeleton which it should also have been his task to clothe,
and has relinquished to inferior and unguided hands, the delicate modelling of the tissues
and the varied colouring of the surface: who can wonder at the discordance and incongruity
of the result? Until very recently, the employment of colour on buildings has had
but few advocates in this country; we are stili imbued with the prejudices left us by
our immediate ancestors and developed in our early education. Although we now know