Christopher Dresser and Art Botany. The Art of Botanical Forms.

Résumé

Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) was a designer, artist and botanist who also made significant contribution to ornamentation and design theory. His oeuvre, little known in our country, has been the subject of much research in recent decades (Halén, Durant, Walgate). However Dresser's lecture series of the late 1850s, in which he summarised his botanical and artistic approach, has not yet been studied. A series of eleven lectures by Dresser was published in The Art Journal from 1857 to 1858. 

The significance of this study, which concludes and summarizes Dresser's early work, is that most of the basic notions from the conceptual system of his oeuvre, such as Power, Truth, Beauty, Repetition, Vital Power, are introduced here. These concepts recur in his theoretical works, as well as in his realized designs and works of art. The series of studies also heralded the turning point in his life's work (1862), as it paved the way for a shift from botanical to artistic work, looking back to the later stages of his life's work. In my presentation, I would like to highlight the implications of this early form of interdisciplinary endeavour for modern design.