Exhibition reflects beauty of Islamic art

By Rachel Lee

A collection of exquisite ornaments created by a British designer is set to capture the hearts and eyes of Korea.

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has brought a very fine collection of Islamic artwork created by Owen Jones (1809-84) and other European designers. Titled “Owen Jones: Islamic Design, Discovery and Vision,” the exhibition examines how the artist and other members of the Victorian design establishment looked to Islamic art.

“We hope that people will rediscover the importance of Owen Jones and understand how the Alhambra and Islamic architecture enjoy fame as result of his work,” said Beth Mckillop, deputy director at the V&A, during a press conference held at the Goyang Aram Art Gallery, Monday. The V&A, established in 1852, is the world’s greatest museum of art, craft and design with about 2.7 million items in its collections.

British architect Jones was a leading agent of the design revolution in Britain in the second half of the 19th century when Islamic art had an enormous impact on the country’s design. His passion for Islamic art, which he studied at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, led him to become an influential art theorist.

“Jones took a scientific and very rational interest in design and architecture and the principles of Islamic art. We should consider him a kind of a renaissance man and color theorist,” Mckillop said.

The exhibition starts by looking at early travel and discovery in the Middle East in the 19th century by major British artists including Jones, Frank Dillon, John Frederick Lewis and David Roberts. It focuses on Jones’ detailed studies of the Alhambra and Islamic Spain and goes on to see how he and other artists applied these design principles in Britain — specifically in the work surrounding the 1851 Great Exhibition, and the foundation of the Government Design Schools and South Kensington Museum. His simple yet unskilled drawing “Tombs near Cairo” is one of the works he produced when he embarked on a grand tour at the age of 23.

There is also a section dedicated to the shockwaves generated by his book “The Grammar of Ornament”— a masterpiece of design publishing and education published in 1856. It has become an ideal reference book for anyone in the fields of fashion, interior designs and textiles.

The exhibition ends with a look at the influence of Islamic design on 19th century decorative arts and architecture in the West such as Fabrica Plateria de Martinez’s “The Clarenson Vase,” which was inspired by the Alhambra “Gazelle Vase.”

The exhibition runs through Dec. 2 at the Goyang Aram Art Gallery in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province. For more information, call (031) 960-0180 or visit www.artgy.or.kr.