**Group 1: Historical Trends in Ornamentation**
– Art history in various cultures demonstrates wave-like trends in ornamentation levels.
– Post-Roman European art witnessed shifts from highly ornamented styles to plainer forms and back.
– Ornamentation increased in Romanesque and Gothic periods, reduced in the Early Renaissance.
– Northern Mannerism, Baroque, and Rococo periods saw increased ornamentation.
– Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and later movements influenced ornamentation trends.
**Group 2: Study of Ornamental Forms**
– Alois Riegl initiated the study of Eurasian ornamental forms.
– Jessica Rawson extended Riegl’s analysis to Chinese art.
– Ornament styles reflect unique cultural developments or adaptations from other cultures.
– Ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, and Roman civilizations significantly contributed to ornamentation.
– Ornamental motifs draw from geometrical shapes, plants, and human/animal figures.
**Group 3: Materials, Techniques, and Function of Ornament**
– Architectural ornament can be carved from stone, wood, or precious metals.
– Decorative styles and motifs vary across architecture, pottery, furniture, and metalwork.
– Ornament implies functionality in the object it decorates.
– Ornaments reflect the philosophy and worldview of the people creating them.
– Traditional ornament styles differ globally, influenced by nature and cultural surroundings.
**Group 4: Roman Ornament and Modern Evolution**
– Roman ornament utilized diverse styles and materials like marble, glass, obsidian, and gold.
– Roman ornament in homes and public buildings showcased elaborate designs.
– Modern ornament evolution includes materials like wood, plastics, and composites.
– Architects like Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright developed contemporary ornamental vocabularies.
– Art Nouveau emerged as a new natural ornament vocabulary in the 20th century.
**Group 5: Views on Ornament in Architecture and Influences**
– John Summerson noted the fear of ornament in architecture in 1941.
– Gothic architecture incorporates ornamental elements that are structurally necessary.
– The International Style mandated minimal ornamentation in architecture.
– Contacts with other cultures through colonialism expanded the repertoire of available ornament styles.
– New discoveries in archaeology influenced the revival of various ornament styles.
In architecture and decorative art, ornament is decoration used to embellish parts of a building or object. Large figurative elements such as monumental sculpture and their equivalents in decorative art are excluded from the term; most ornaments do not include human figures, and if present they are small compared to the overall scale. Architectural ornament can be carved from stone, wood or precious metals, formed with plaster or clay, or painted or impressed onto a surface as applied ornament; in other applied arts the main material of the object, or a different one such as paint or vitreous enamel may be used.
A wide variety of decorative styles and motifs have been developed for architecture and the applied arts, including pottery, furniture, metalwork. In textiles, wallpaper and other objects where the decoration may be the main justification for its existence, the terms pattern or design are more likely to be used. The vast range of motifs used in ornament draw from geometrical shapes and patterns, plants, and human and animal figures. Across Eurasia and the Mediterranean world there has been a rich and linked tradition of plant-based ornament for over three thousand years; traditional ornament from other parts of the world typically relies more on geometrical and animal motifs. The inspiration for the patterns usually lies in the nature that surrounds the people in the region. Many nomadic tribes in Central Asia had many animalistic motifs before the penetration of Islam in the region.
In a 1941 essay, the architectural historian Sir John Summerson called it "surface modulation". The earliest decoration and ornament often survives from prehistoric cultures in simple markings on pottery, where decoration in other materials (including tattoos) has been lost. Where the potter's wheel was used, the technology made some kinds of decoration very easy; weaving is another technology which also lends itself very easily to decoration or pattern, and to some extent dictates its form. Ornament has been evident in civilizations since the beginning of recorded history, ranging from Ancient Egyptian architecture to the assertive lack of ornament of 20th century Modernist architecture. Ornaments also depict a certain philosophy of the people for the world around. For example, in Central Asia among nomadic Kazakhs, the circular lines of the ornaments signalled the sequential perception of time in the wide steppes and the breadth and freedom of space.
Ornament implies that the ornamented object has a function that an unornamented equivalent might also fulfill. Where the object has no such function, but exists only to be a work of art such as a sculpture or painting, the term is less likely to be used, except for peripheral elements. In recent centuries a distinction between the fine arts and applied or decorative arts has been applied (except for architecture), with ornament mainly seen as a feature of the latter class.[citation needed]
Definition from ChatGPT:
Ornament (art):
In art, an ornament refers to a decorative element or embellishment that is added to enhance the beauty or visual interest of an object or surface. Ornaments can take various forms, such as intricate patterns, motifs, or designs, and are often used to adorn architecture, furniture, textiles, and other artistic creations. They serve to add aesthetic value and create a sense of richness and detail in the overall composition.