The Language of Ornament
James Trilling. Thames & Hudson, $14.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-500-20343-9
Although the ornamental has, in mainstream art-history circles, become ""acceptable again"" after long-running modernist attacks, its ""rehabilitation is far from complete,"" laments James Trilling (Ornament), former curator at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. The Language of Ornament, a visual and historical study with 246 illustrations (68 in color), begins in the Paleolithic era (an English hand-ax) and ends with Matisse and a back-to-the-future look at one of the oldest forms of ornament: tattoos. Trilling's unabashed apologia for the beleaguered art form will speed its recovery. ( June 25)
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Reviewed on: 06/25/2001
Genre: Nonfiction