Ornament: A Social History Since 1450 by Michael Snodin & Maurice Howard
4to. pp. 232. 240 illustrations, many in colour. bibliography. index. hardcover. dw.(fine condition). New Haven: Yale University Press in association with The Victoria And Albert Museum, [1996].
First Edition.
ISBN 10: 0300064551 / ISBN 13: 9780300064551
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This wide-ranging and richly illustrated book surveys the Western tradition of ornament from Renaissance interiors to gypsy caravans to the decoration of airliners. The first book to place ornamental design in a social context, it traces the various ways ornament has been used, the rules of decorum and etiquette associated with it, and the social, moral, and spiritual values that ornament has conveyed and represented through the past five centuries. Michael Snodin and Maurice Howard begin by looking at how an authoritative view of ornament came into being; the objectives implicit in the decoration of architecture from the Renaissance onward and the manner in which printed images conveyed a common vocabulary of ornament all over the Western world. Next they survey how ornament has been used for personal decoration, analyzing how the body has been adorned in dress and jewelry and the place of ornament in the interiors of the home. They then explore the more public side of ornament, discussing the common themes that lie behind the heraldic motifs of religious ceremonies and festivals and the logos adopted by corporations. The authors conclude with an account of the ways the Western tradition of ornament has responded to and absorbed African and Asian motifs.