ENGL419/Books/OwenJones

Owen Jones

Calligraffiti, n. :/kæˈlɪɡrəˈfiːtɪ/

A portmanteau of calligraphy and graffiti – calligraffiti is the art of writing in the style of Japanese ancient brush characters, Arabic pictorial scripts or illuminated medieval books.

This fascination with calligraphy, medieval art and, specifically, Islamic art, saw a similar revival in the mid-19th century thanks to the renowned Victorian architect and designer, Owen Jones. The English ‘Renaissance man’ of Welsh descent became a very influential theorist that helped develop chromolithography, colour theory, and flat patterning. His writings on design and illustrations of ornaments still resonate today and were considered a ubiquitous source of inspiration for many artists.

Jones was born at the start of the 19th century on the 15th of February 1809 to an antiquarian who was devoted to Welsh studies and literature. After completing his studies at the Royal Academy School, Owen Jones travelled across Europe and the Mediterranean to study Islamic architecture. This included Cairo, Constantinople, Greece, Italy and finally, Spain. There, he spent the majority of his time in Granada, studying the decorations and designs of the Alhambra palace. By analysing the polychromy of ancient Greek buildings, examining the ancient sites of Cairo and studying Islamic architecture, Jones was able to embark on a scientific and detailed documentation of the aesthetics of the Alhambra palace. One of the most well known examples of Islamic architecture, and revered by many as the pinnacle of Moorish design, the Alhambra studies served as a basis to propel Jones into the spotlight. UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collections library has a first edition of Jones’ book, which per Victorian customs has the long title, “Plans, elevations, sections, and details of the Alhambra, from drawings taken on the spot in 1834 by Jules Goury, and in 1834 and 1837 by Owen Jones. With a complete translation of the Arabic inscriptions, and an historical notice of the kings of Granada from the conquest of that city by the Arabs to the expulsion of the Moors, by Pasqual de Gayangos.”

"Plans, elevations, sections, and details of the Alhambra" - Owen Jones

Plans, elevations, sections, and details of the Alhambra

In an extremely detailed dissection of the Alhambra palace, Owen Jones illustrates the many floor plans, doorways, ceilings, walls, reliefs, domes, windows, and any other architectural epithets in his publication. Vizetelly Brothers and Co. Printers printed the book in London between 1842 and 1845. It is a collaboration between Owen Jones, who did most of the illustrations, Pasqual de Gayangos, who translated the Arabic scripts and provided a brief historical explanation, and Jules Goury – a young French architect that studied Ancient Greek polychromy. During their collaboration in Granada, Jules Goury contracted cholera and passed away. Therefore, the book contains a dedication at the beginning that reads, “To the memory of Jules Goury, Architect, who died of cholera, at Granada, on August XXVIII, MDCCCXXXIV, whilst engaged in preparing the original drawings. This work is inscribed by his friend Owen Jones.” Each page is 60cm in height and 35cm in width and the entirety of the text is written doubly in French and English with many Arabic phrases that are thence translated into both languages.

Example of lithograph and accompanying description - Owen Jones, "Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra"

This pivotal work starts with an aerial map of the Alhambra palace, drawn in colour with all the relevant structures included and labelled. Following this is a catalogue of the different gateways, buildings and structures categorized under “plates” with their respective descriptions and monochrome etchings. These are brief, concise yet detailed with footnotes that provide dates and times. Next is a blueprint of the palace and fortress showing the halls, patios, fountains, and gardens, shown below:

Map of the Alhambra Palace complex - Owen Jones

Floor plans of Alhambra - Owen Jones

The next segment of “Plans, elevations, sections, and details of the Alhambra” contains extremely meticulous replicas of the palace’s arabesque decorations. Although these prints begin as monochrome lithographs, they turn into elaborate chromolithographs with noticeably bright colours. Since the colour printing techniques at the time were not on par with the rich intricacies of Alhambra, Jones pioneered a process of chromolithography that would gain him a reputation in design and printing. A second volume of the book was later published that focuses on specific reliefs, designs, and friezes.

Details from “Plans, elevations, sections, and details of the Alhambra”

Jones’ Chromolithography

The key problems in converting monochrome lithography to a multi-coloured one were in producing coloured inks that would work in the process and in securing accurate register so that the successive stones could be perfectly aligned upon the previous imprint. Jones discovered that using zinc in the lithograph plates was a failure and began to use stone plates instead. Through his experimentation, he found that the coloured inks often reacted with the zinc to produce imperfect prints after a few copies and therefore, he began to use stone drawings for the illustrations that proved successful. In addition, Jones worked with several chemists in Paris to achieve bright colours that are representative of those found in Alhambra. In earlier editions of the book, when the illustrator was experimenting with zinc plates and colours, the blue in some artworks has since faded into a pale grey. This is the case with some of the first prints in the “Plans, elevations, sections, and details of the Alhambra” in UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collections library. However, the latter half of the prints retain a bright and bold blue that points to the experimentation and lack of understanding of the chemistry at work in the process of lithography. It is suspected that the binding agent and acidic pH of the paper led to the paling of the blue colour. The second volume published maintains the bright blue colours throughout and, with its focus on details of Alhambra, shows greater consistency in technique. The addition of the gold colour was achieved by printing a varnish first, onto which gold dust was applied with the surplus being brushed off.

Perfecting his newfound chromolithography, Owen Jones’ book soon became a landmark in print culture. The vibrant colours, specifically primary colours with copious amounts of gold, attracted the attention of Victorian artists. Furthermore, the monumental book intensified the appeal of Oriental art and particularly, the arabesque motifs and patterns. The high-tech procedure that Jones innovated, with the help of chemists and printers, was able to appropriately relay the highly intricate and ornate details of the Alhambra palace in colour.

Jones' Colour Theory

In an attempt to revolutionize the drab and colourless neo-classical style, Jones’ posited new, and at the time risky, colour theories that have since sculpted him into design hall of fame. He argued that distance, coloration, lighting and the level of intricacy of an ornament affected vision. Where from afar, only outlines are recognizable and the colours are often distorted, the viewer experiences a lively bloom effect for objects that gain detail, distinct colours and intricacies upon their approach. The Alhambra palace is embroidered with repeated passages from the Koran or famous poems. Here, Jones noted that these ornate embellishments serve to satisfy those that decipher them in addition to being constant reminders for the pious of the divine omniscience. These patterns are similarly found in medieval illustrated books, which Jones avidly collected. By studying these manuscripts as well as the Islamic buildings, Jones noted how the use of bright, primary colours, repeated designs and intricate motifs created character, complexity and originality. Here, the technique of changing colouration, focusing on primary colours with peripheral secondary shading, and manipulating words or phrases to create new ornamentation enabled Owen Jones to produce many patterns for wallpaper, textiles, and carpets. With Islamic art being limited to inspirations from nature (since any iconographic drawings that include animals or people are considered blasphemous), Jones borrowed the nature theme in many of his works that would then inspire other Victorian designers. The ubiquitous William Morris designs are arguably influenced by Jones’ work whose introduction of repeated, two-dimensional patterns gained fame in Victorian England.

Owen Jones' borders from John Gibson Lockhart's "Ancient Spanish Ballads"

Jones' Philosophy

Recognizing that ornamentation is a powerful tool for communication, where it is able to emphasize the intentions of the designer or the patron, architectural iconography became a significant visual and symbolic form of expression of an architectural scheme. Emblematic inscriptions, as repeatedly used throughout Alhambra palace are able to instigate associations with broader concepts, deeper meanings, or more powerful emotions. While in Granada, Jones produced paper tracings and plaster casts for each of the thousands of inscriptions that covered the medieval palace in order to create a permanent record for later translations. With the belief that art is the voice of the artist, Jones implied that an investigation of designs would provide insights into the architects, patrons, builders, and creators who issued them. As such, Jones was one of the earliest Victorian designers to advocate for a new style of architecture that reflects nineteenth century values and technology, and criticize the Gothic Revival.

“He understood that this process is made easier and more agreeable through recognition and repetition and described the secret of creating satisfying ornament as the repetition of a few simple elements to produce a broad general effect. He knew, however, that too simple a design, endlessly reproduced, would lead to monotony and boredom and that a sense of pleasure and beauty results from viewing patterns that require a higher mental effort to appreciate them.”

Under the slogan of “Constructions should be decorated and decorations should not be constructed,” the approach of Owen Jones to design and décor soon became exemplary in Victorian England. From his travels in Cairo and Constantinople, Jones was able to assess ancient Egyptian and Turkish architecture and confer that it is able to fully articulate the “complete chronicle of the manners, customs, and feelings of a people” compared to the inexpressive and inert neo-classical culture prevalent in England at the time. Thus, with the intent of reinserting ‘feeling’ into design, Jones developed a philosophy centred round bright, primary colours, ornate designs, repeated patterns and a general revival of medieval atmospherics.

The Great Exhibition

After establishing himself in the world of design, colour theory, and architectural aesthetics, Owen Jones was tasked with the interior design of the legendary Crystal Palace of the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. This innovative and impressive architectural masterpiece was the central venue for housing all the exhibits, inventions and displays. Specifically, Jones arranged these exhibits and decided the interior colour palette of yellow, blue and red. Reminiscent of medieval paint schemes, Jones’ choices were controversial at first but gained widespread positive reviews. In addition, Jones was charged with composing several of the interior courts, including the Ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian ones. Here, the colour and pattern theories of Owen Jones could be practically applied, showcasing his new philosophies. James Stevens Curl notes, “one of the most extraordinarily lavish attempts to present the past to the public was inside the reconstructed and enlarged Crystal Palace”. This project served as the great debut for Jones into the English and international spotlight of architecture and design.

The adventures of Mr. & Mrs. Sandboy:

With the opening of the magnanimous Great Exhibition of 1851, Henry Mayhew and George Cruikshank wrote a periodical by the title of “1851, or, The adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Sandboys and family, who came up to London to "enjoy themselves" and to see the Great Exhibition”. This work is also found in UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collections library and includes a review of the exhibition, stories about the crazed patrons of the time, as well as a description of the Crystal Palace interiors. While the text fails to mention Owen Jones, it notes: “The opposite side of the transept was filled with sight-seers, and the galleries, around and all along, as far as the eye could stretch, were dotted over with the yellow, white, and pink bonnets of the fairer portion of the company.”

This humorous and caricatural text includes illustrations of the Crystal Palace and descriptions that recall the beautiful and ornate Alhambra palace.

Other works

Over the course of his life, Owen Jones published many studies on colour, art theory and architecture. Perhaps the most famous is his book Grammar of Ornament, first published in 1856. This publication had a deep influence on taste and can be considered a foundational inspiration for the highly decorous Art Deco movement.

Another notable work is titled, “The illuminated books of the Middle Ages: an account of the development and progress of the art of illumination, as a distinct branch of pictorial ornamentation, from the IVth to the XVIIth centuries” by Henry Noel Humphreys. This book includes many manuscripts of the various periods, executed on stone and printed in colours by Owen Jones. In addition, Jones published a compilation of an illustrated alphabet under the title of “One Thousand and One Initial Letters” in 1864, which can be accessed through the Gutenberg Project.

Finally, Owen Jones was also collaborated on John Gibson Lockhart’s “Ancient Spanish Ballads: historical and romantic.” Herein, Jones designed the frontispieces, borders and many of the artistic features of the book. UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collections library has a copy of Lockhart’s book.

Gallery

The following are images taken of Owen Jones' "Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra" at the University of British Columbia - Rare Books and Special Collections Library.

Reflection

What I found most interesting about Owen Jones is his worldly perspective and ability to master the foreign. His fascination with medieval art, architecture and Islamic designs influenced Victorian taste considerably and reinvigorated the art scene. From furniture and books to wallpapers and buildings, Jones was a famed artist whose meticulous work in Granada, Spain, earned him an insight into the missing aspects of mid-nineteenth century design. Indeed, his work was celebrated, his printing revolutionary and his colour theories avant-garde. While much of Jones’ work can be attributed to his astute studies and collaborations with chemists, architects and printers, he gathered a lot of inspiration from the beautiful and ornate Alhambra palace. What might have been prosaic and perhaps even vulgar to the previous generations that grew accustomed to neo-classical sterility has been revived to a status of magical beauty. His highly prolific studies and impressive drawings were able to perfectly capture the ornate Islamic palace to the extent that he was considered an expert on Oriental art. This resulted in Owen Jones being commissioned to design the entire palace of Egypt’s Viceroy (Khedive), Isma’il Pasha, in 1864. This level of accomplishment is nothing short of remarkable and positions Jones in the ranks of England’s most accomplished and influential men. Researching Owen Jones’ work, I was blown away by the immaculate details, mesmerizing colours and accurate depictions of the Alhambra palace. In addition, his philosophies around patterns, colour palettes, and ornate details are inspiring. One of his most famous quotes is: “Form without colour is like a body without a soul.” Under this motto, Owen Jones brings bright colours that challenge the dull and dingy Gothicisim of Victorian England.