Beauty of Ornament

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Other Title
  • 文様の美
  • モンヨウ ノ ビ

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Description

Motif or Ornament is divided into two styles. One of the styles is the naturalistic ornament, composed of animal subjects, plants and flowers, and human figures and genre subjects. The other, the style of the geometrical ornament, is composed of straight lines, curves, dots and etc. Japanese geometrical ornaments, for example, are "Shima (stripe)", "Ichimatsu (checker)", "Seikaiha (petalwave)". The naturalistic ornament can not be explained by the theory of imitation, and it implies the emotional, allegorical, symbolic and literary subjects. The geometrical ornament, as Alois Riegl stated, should not be explained by the theory of technology. It is laid in nature. Ornament is the creation of human will, therefore, the naturalistic ornament is begining to lose the shape of nature, and the geometrical ornament is beginning to change from the geometrical abstraction to something organized and living. As Herbert Read explains, "Ornament should emphasize form", we can find the beauty of ornament in emphasizing the form.

Journal

  • Aesthetics

    Aesthetics 19 (1), 23-28, 1968

    The Japanese Society for Aesthetics

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