The Language of Ornament. (Ornament - Basic Pleasure?).

James Trilling. London: Thames and Hudson. 2001. [pounds sterling]8.95

Who outlawed ornament? How is it that the Berlin Wall of Modernism has come down and yet we are still denied the most basic pleasure of pre-totalitarian architecture? James Trilling is the ideal person to answer these questions. He stays calm when many would rant at the sheer gall of those who have imposed an architectural burka on us all for a century without even the threat of Hell. He shows how, in the nineteenth century, machines allowed intricacy to outrun taste and invention, which naturally gave rise to William Morris and his 'hempen homespuns' and subsequently to Adolf Loos's famous essay 'Ornament and Crime'. He even has good words to say about Modernist ornament -- basically patterned marble sliced up in a 'truth-to-material' sort of way and stuck on the wall in a 'less-is-more' kind of arrangement. But Trilling shows that, while there is much to admire in the architecture of Adolf Loos et al, there is really no reason to listen to a word they say. If only everyone read this admirable book they woul d be convinced of this sensible conclusion and have a magnificently lucid and sensitive account of the entire history of ornament thrown in.

Trilling is optimistic that we can put the twentieth century behind us and get back on track engaging with something which has delighted all civilized societies since Palaeolithic times. I wonder. As he himself says, 'It is easy to slip into doubt, and wonder if even the most assured of today's makers [of decorative objects] might not simply be doing their best with a bad legacy, one that robbed them of the training and even the ambition to make full use of their talents'.