Back in 1856, architect Owen Jones outlined
his Thirty Seven Propositions – a series of ideas that set out to stop
what he saw to be the tendency at the time to ‘copy’ images, without any
comprehension of what made them beautiful.
His writings went on to have a significant impact on British design in the latter half of the 19
th century, and now Charlotte Hodes is casting her eye over them, reinterpreting the ideas as a 21
st century woman.
Hodes, Professor
in Fine Art at London College of Fashion, works in collage and
papercut, as well as designs for ceramics, aiming to ‘dismantle’ the
form of decorative arts.
Skirt dish by Charlotte Hodes
Her
work is to be exhibited in a new show called The Grammar of Ornament –
the title of another of Jones’s publications – opening this week at
London’s Jaggedart gallery.
Her
papercut works use the image of a female figure, looking to subvert the
male viewpoint of Jones’s writings. Her feminist ideas are pushed
further in the decision to use traditionally ‘feminine’ objects, such as
ceramic dishes and tableware, as a canvas - bringing the idea of
domesticity and the home to the fore.
‘Her
work, using tiny fragments of paper and decorative motifs, explores the
diverse manner in which the women have been presented in art history;
the decorative links to the domestic, and the way in which so much of
female activity goes unnoticed’, says Dr Janet McKenzie, in her
catalogue essay on the work in the exhibition.
Charlotte Hodes, The Grammar of Ornament, runs from 6 March – 5 April at Jaggedart, 28 Devonshire St, London W1G
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