Thursday, September 19, 2019

Ornamental Design

I believe the right question to ask, respecting all ornament, is simply this; was it done with enjoyment, was the carver happy while he was about it?
~John Ruskin

I had trouble narrowing down which pages to show from the 1900 book Handbook of ornament; a grammar of art, industrial and architectural designing in all its branches, for practical as well as theoretical use by Franz Sales Meyer because I wanted to show the breadth of its images.

A second quote:
I belong in chrysanthemum time, sharp in calla lily elongations. God made my soul into an ornamental thing.
~Fernando Pessoa

















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2 comments:

  1. HWYSeptember 19, 2019 at 9:22 AM

    Fascinating variety of ornaments...and much variety within each category. I've never seen so many types of armor helmets...wonder which ones were more effective.

    The keys were cool, but I was really taken with the scissors. Beautiful and amazingly varied.

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  2. RettaSeptember 19, 2019 at 7:36 PM

    I absolutely adore that era in which things were not only functional, but beautiful! From keys, to scissors, to door knockers and beer steins, and even elements of armor. I love it all!

    I remember so many times being told I was wrong to put so much detail and/or "design" in a painting. I see here that I was not wrong. Just born at the wrong time! :-D

    Thank you for a fascinating post. I downloaded a pdf of the book. I want to read the whole thing.

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