Objects of Substance- Libellum Motif

Frieze design is a technique of ‘ornamentation’ which has its origins in Classical Antiquity and enjoyed a renewed interest in the nineteenth century. (Martin, 2017) The frieze or ornament ‘is decoration or embellishment [that provides] additional detail added to an object, interior or architectural structure which serves no other purpose than to make it more interesting, arresting or beautiful.’ (Grant, 2011) English architect, graphic designer and theorist of ornament, Owen Jones, saw the divine in the ordered structures evident in nature. His achievements include the decoration of the Crystal Palace of the Great Exhibition of 1851. (The University of Melbourne, 2023) Jones, like many of his English contemporaries, was concerned by the poor quality of British design and having gained his inspirations for design from his travels in Europe and the Middle East, and the Great Exhibition, saw the potential of ornamentation offered by the advances of the Industrial Revolution. (Zaczek, 2000) The pinnacle of his work was the publication of his book The Grammar of Ornament: A Visual Reference of Form and Colour in Architecture and the Decorative Arts (1856) which was always meant to be just that, a textbook about the principles of the language of ornamentation – structured, patterned, natural, decorative. (Martin, 2017) Owen’s book was hugely influential of the Arts and Crafts movement of the nineteenth century and informed the work of artists such as William Morris (1834 – 1896), and architect, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 – 1959), as well as Brisbane Girls Grammar School’s first art teacher, Vera Cottew. (Zaczek, 2000) Vera Cottew was an artist and art teacher who commenced as a Visiting Mistress of Drawing at Girls Grammar in 1925 after spending three years as an Art teacher at Somerville House. She dedicated the next twenty-two years of her career to her Grammar girls. (Lilley K. M., 1926) Shortly after her employment, Cottew acquired her own copy of The Grammar of Ornament, a 1928 reprint of the 1910 edition, A3 in size, leather bound with a gold leaf gilded edge, containing 100 chromolithograph plates. It must have been very exciting to have such a magnificent book that had been described as ‘beautiful enough to be the hornbook of angels’. (Zaczek, 2000) Cottew used it with passion passing on Owen’s aesthetic language to her young students in her drawing classes.

A colour plate from Vera Cottew’s copy of “The Grammar of Ornament”. Indian No 4, Plate LII