The Language of Ornament

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)