The Proposition of Landscape
This project references The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones, published in 1856, and uses maps from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s American Geographical Society Library Digital Map collections. By analyzing map images of land boundaries and ornamentation from The Grammar of Ornament, new visual landscapes are created using the decorative elements described in the text.
The artist book selects a small sample of ornaments from each of the twenty sections of the text and arranges them into a landscape that reinterprets the boundaries of each country or region. Besides using ornamentation from The Grammar of Ornament, the artist book also includes some of Jones’ thirty-seven design proposals outlined in his book. These proposals recommend the best methods for using color and composition in relation to the ornamentation. In the artist book, twenty of these proposals guide and shape the layout of each page. The numbers on each page of the artist book refer to Jones’ proposals.
Edition of 30