Ornamental Iron

This vintage book contains a comprehensive training manual for students, professional workers, and others interested in hand-wrought ornamental ironwork. Written in simple, plain language and full of helpful illustrations, this volume is ideal for novice metalworks looking for an introduction to the subject. Contents include: "The Spirit of Decorating", "History of Ornamental Ironwork", "Beauty, Strength and Pliability Combined", "Correct Principles in Designing", "Mere Ornament not Decoration", "Decorative Value of Curves and Lines", "The Inspiration of Art and Nature", "Equipment", "The Forge", "Fuel", "The Fire", "Heating", et cetera. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on metal work. First published in 1911.

Vilified by leading architectural modernists and Victorian critics alike, mass-produced architectural ornament in iron has received little sustained study since the 1960s; yet it proliferated in Britain in the half century after the building of the Crystal Palace in 1851 - a time when some architects, engineers, manufacturers, and theorists believed that the fusion of iron and ornament would reconcile art and technology and create a new, modern architectural language. Comprehensively illustrated and richly researched, Iron, Ornament and Architecture in Victorian Britain presents the most sustained study to date of the development of mechanised architectural ornament in iron in nineteenth-century architecture, its reception and theorisation by architects, critics and engineers, and the contexts in which it flourished, including industrial buildings, retail and seaside architecture, railway stations, buildings for export and exhibition, and street furniture. Appealing to architects, conservationists, historians and students of nineteenth-century visual culture and the built environment, this book offers new ways of understanding the notion of modernity in Victorian architecture by questioning and re-evaluating both Victorian and modernist understandings of the ideological split between historicism and functionalism, and ornament and structure.

From the Middle Ages to contemporary times, decorative art can be defi ned by the artistic materials, designs and objects used in both architecture and interior design. Similar to many art forms decorative art continues to evolve, originating with pieces as simple as a chair, noted for its utility, to purely ornamental objects, celebrated for their aesthetic beauty. Decorative Art aims to eulogize these often undervalued objects by giving praise to all mediums of decorative art throughout the centuries. Originally never considered as fi ne art, their artistic potential was not acknowledged until the twentieth century when industrial production replaced artisanal creation. The age, authenticity and above all the uniqueness of these precious objects have now become the new standards of quality and beauty found in decorative art. Join us in discovering the evolution of decorative art through this enticing survey of major masterpieces throughout time.