Modernism and Rejection of Ornament
In the second half on the 19th century and early years of the 20th long and passionate debate arose in lives of theorists and practitioners of decorative arts which questioned the future of ornament which came to an end that ornament had no future. Or does it?
The answer is hidden in the 19th century America and Europe. During this time a lot of change occurred, not just in scientific and technologic areas but also in study of human societies. World was overwhelmed by new inventions and due to it, the design community had struggled to keep up with it. Each new development raised new questions - what was beautiful, practical and appropriate about it. The real challenge was the reformation of the Western society which now is now as the modernisation. So what is modernisation? - 1." Social scientists define modernisation as the shift from animate to inanimate sources of power for the operations that hold societies together: production of goods, transportation, communication." The transition to modernised society demanded new skills and devalued the old ones. Skill workers, such as hand weavers, lost their means of support. The implications of ornament were clear from the very start. How could it survive and continue to exist if the craft was heading towards the extinction. This question acquired a strong belief that if a society could stop ornament from extinction and preserve it, ornament would preserve a society. Ornament was symbolic of a preindustrial society that were considered to be essential in quality of life, which valued traditional skills, were pround in a job which was done to the best of ability, loved the beauty in objects of daily use. By protecting ornament, the design communit...
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...decoration. Third that combining ornament with machinery is wrong, because machinery is beautiful in itself, it looks forward to the future, whereas ornament in elaborate, it look backward to the past. Machinery and ornament have no common ground. Read's rejection of ornament allows him to free himself of finding out whether the ornament actually interfered with the function of machinery. For many many ages people have made their living with decorated tools, they fought for their lives with decorated weapons and played music with decorated instruments. But decoration prevents them from efficient use as they are afraid to damage it. Those objects may have the outward form of useful objects, but the design and material in which they are made makes them impractical for everyday use. For example, many swords were made to be beautiful but were impractical in battlefields.
Benjamin, Walter, and J. A. Underwood. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.
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