Designing the V&A

Designing the V&A

The Museum as a Work of Art (1857-1909)

By Julius Bryant

£39.95

Publication Date: 30th March 2017

  • The first book to consider the V&A as a work of art in itself
  • Presents previously unpublished historical visual material relating to the Museum's 19th-century interiors
  • The opening of the V&A's new Exhibition Road entrance in 2017 revealed previously unseen aspects of the original 19th-century building

The building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, begun in 1857, is the most elaborately designed and decorated museum in Britain. This book is the first to consider the V&A as a work of art in itself, presenting drawings, watercolours and historic photographs relating to the museum’s 19th-century exteriors and interiors. Much of this visual material is previously unpublished and is outside the canon of Victorian art and design.

The V&A’s first Director, Henry Cole, conceived the museum’s building as a showcase for leading Victorian artists to design and decorate. This book re... Read More

Format: Hardcover
362 in stock
  • The first book to consider the V&A as a work of art in itself
  • Presents previously unpublished historical visual material relating to the Museum's 19th-century interiors
  • The opening of the V&A's new Exhibition Road entrance in 2017 revealed previously unseen aspects of the original 19th-century building

The building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, begun in 1857, is the most elaborately designed and decorated museum in Britain. This book is the first to consider the V&A as a work of art in itself, presenting drawings, watercolours and historic photographs relating to the museum’s 19th-century exteriors and interiors. Much of this visual material is previously unpublished and is outside the canon of Victorian art and design.

The V&A’s first Director, Henry Cole, conceived the museum’s building as a showcase for leading Victorian artists to design and decorate. This book re... Read More
Description

The building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, begun in 1857, is the most elaborately designed and decorated museum in Britain. This book is the first to consider the V&A as a work of art in itself, presenting drawings, watercolours and historic photographs relating to the museum’s 19th-century exteriors and interiors. Much of this visual material is previously unpublished and is outside the canon of Victorian art and design.

The V&A’s first Director, Henry Cole, conceived the museum’s building as a showcase for leading Victorian artists to design and decorate. This book reveals for the first time the ways in which Cole’s expressed policy to ‘assemble a splendid collection of objects representing the application of Fine Arts to manufacture’ was applied to the fabric of the building, as he engaged leading painters such as Frederic Leighton, G.F. Watts and Edward Burne-Jones, as well as specialists in decoration such as Owen Jones and Morris and Company, to decorate and design for a building raised by engineers using innovatory materials and techniques.

This book represents a fascinating, untold chapter in the history of British 19th-century art, design, architecture and museums, and provides an essential key to understanding the evolution of the museum’s early collections and identity.

Details
  • Pages: 176
  • Publisher: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
  • Co-Publisher: V&A Publishing
  • Series: V&A 19th-Century Series
  • Publication Date: 30th March 2017
  • Trim Size: 22.8 x 27 cm
  • Illustration Note: Includes 208 colour illustrations
  • ISBN: 9781848222335
Author Bio
Julius Bryant is Keeper of Word and Image at the Victoria and Albert Museum, with responsibility for Paintings, Prints, Drawings and Photographs, the National Art Library and the Archive of Art and Design. From 2005 to 2017 he was also the V&A’s lead curator for exhibitions on James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, on William Kent and on John Lockwood Kipling (all in collaboration with the Bard Graduate Center, New York City, as co-curator and senior research fellow). He is author of Alec Cobbe: Designs for Historic Interiors (V&A, 2014), editor of Art and Design for All: The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A, 2011) and co-editor of Word & Image: Art, Books and Design from the National Art Library (V&A, 2015).
Table of Contents
Part I: Introduction: 1 Building the Museum; 2 The Museum as a Work of Art; 3 A Summary Timeline; Part II: Designs and Decoration: A Parkland Setting; The South Kensington Museum; The Refreshment Rooms; The Ceramic Stairs and Galleries; The Lecture Theatre; The Paintings Galleries and the North Staircase; The North Court; The South Courts; The 'Kensington Valhalla'; The Oriental Courts; The Prince Consort's Gallery; The National Competition Gallery; Frederic Leighton's Frescoes; The East Staircase; The National Art Library; The Cast Courts; The Grand Entrance and the Long Gallery; The Pantheon of British Art; The Henry Cole Wing; Exhibition Road; Endnotes; Index

The building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, begun in 1857, is the most elaborately designed and decorated museum in Britain. This book is the first to consider the V&A as a work of art in itself, presenting drawings, watercolours and historic photographs relating to the museum’s 19th-century exteriors and interiors. Much of this visual material is previously unpublished and is outside the canon of Victorian art and design.

The V&A’s first Director, Henry Cole, conceived the museum’s building as a showcase for leading Victorian artists to design and decorate. This book reveals for the first time the ways in which Cole’s expressed policy to ‘assemble a splendid collection of objects representing the application of Fine Arts to manufacture’ was applied to the fabric of the building, as he engaged leading painters such as Frederic Leighton, G.F. Watts and Edward Burne-Jones, as well as specialists in decoration such as Owen Jones and Morris and Company, to decorate and design for a building raised by engineers using innovatory materials and techniques.

This book represents a fascinating, untold chapter in the history of British 19th-century art, design, architecture and museums, and provides an essential key to understanding the evolution of the museum’s early collections and identity.

  • Pages: 176
  • Publisher: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
  • Co-Publisher: V&A Publishing
  • Series: V&A 19th-Century Series
  • Publication Date: 30th March 2017
  • Trim Size: 22.8 x 27 cm
  • Illustrations Note: Includes 208 colour illustrations
  • ISBN: 9781848222335
Julius Bryant is Keeper of Word and Image at the Victoria and Albert Museum, with responsibility for Paintings, Prints, Drawings and Photographs, the National Art Library and the Archive of Art and Design. From 2005 to 2017 he was also the V&A’s lead curator for exhibitions on James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, on William Kent and on John Lockwood Kipling (all in collaboration with the Bard Graduate Center, New York City, as co-curator and senior research fellow). He is author of Alec Cobbe: Designs for Historic Interiors (V&A, 2014), editor of Art and Design for All: The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A, 2011) and co-editor of Word & Image: Art, Books and Design from the National Art Library (V&A, 2015).
Part I: Introduction: 1 Building the Museum; 2 The Museum as a Work of Art; 3 A Summary Timeline; Part II: Designs and Decoration: A Parkland Setting; The South Kensington Museum; The Refreshment Rooms; The Ceramic Stairs and Galleries; The Lecture Theatre; The Paintings Galleries and the North Staircase; The North Court; The South Courts; The 'Kensington Valhalla'; The Oriental Courts; The Prince Consort's Gallery; The National Competition Gallery; Frederic Leighton's Frescoes; The East Staircase; The National Art Library; The Cast Courts; The Grand Entrance and the Long Gallery; The Pantheon of British Art; The Henry Cole Wing; Exhibition Road; Endnotes; Index

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