Sharing History

The success of the World’s Fairs from the mid-19th century grew in line with an increasing number of industrial art schools and schools of applied art. The debate between art and industry fitted perfectly within the context of the new technologies highlighted by the Universal Exhibitions and involved numerous different aspects: knowledge of the decorative arts and schools of design, new models and the need to adapt the creative process to mass production, new raw materials and cost, and the training of a specialised workforce. Ornamental manuals and repertoires, imitating the popular book by Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, instructed readers on how to produce decorative elements in the Islamic style. At the same time as the first schools were founded in France and Britain, new industrial art museums began to appear in Europe starting with the Museum of Manufactures in South Kensington, London (later the Victoria and Albert Museum), in 1852. These museums were founded to collect original artefacts that were then copied or reworked into new, original creations using modern technological processes.