Christopher Dresser  

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Christopher Dresser (Glasgow, 4 July 1834 – Mulhouse, 24 November 1904) was a Scottish designer and design theorist, now widely known as one of the first and most important, independent, designers and was a pivotal figure in the Aesthetic Movement, and a major contributor to the allied Anglo-Japanese branch of the Movement; both originated in England and had long lasting international influence.

Biography

Dresser was born in Glasgow, Scotland. At age 13, he began attending the Government School of Design, Somerset House. He received training in design and took botany as his specialization. He lectured on the new subject of Art Botany to complete his studies before his appointment in 1855 as Professor of Artistic Botany in the Department of Science and Art, South Kensington He wrote a series of articles that appeared in the Art Journal in 1857, "Botany as Adapted to the Arts and Art Manufactures." In 1858 he sold his first designs.

He was awarded a doctorate in absentia from the University of Jena, Germany in 1859 for his writings.

From this early date his design work widened to include carpets, ceramics, furniture, glass, graphics, metalwork, including silver and electroplate, and textiles printed and woven.In 1865 the Building News reported that in the early part of his career he had been active as a designer of wallpapers, textiles and carpets thus the most active revolutioniser in the decorative art of the day. He wrote several books on design and ornament, including The Art of Decorative Design (1862), The Development of Ornamental Art in the International Exhibition (1862), and Principles of Design (1873).

In four months in 1876/1877 Dresser travelled about 2000 miles in Japan, recording his impressions in Japan, its Architecture, Art and Art-Manufactures. He represented the South Kensington Museum whilst in Japan, and was received at court by the Emperor, who ordered Dresser to be treated as a guest of the nation – all doors were open to him. He was requested by the Japanese Government to write a report on 'Trade with Europe'. His pioneering study of Japanese art is evident in much of his work which is considered typical of the Anglo-Japanese style.

Between 1879 and 1882, as Art Superintendent at the Linthorpe Art Pottery in Linthorpe in Middlesbrough he designed over 1,000 pots. If his ceramic work from the 1860s onwards (for firms such as Mintons, Wedgwood, Royal Worcester, Watcombe, Linthorpe, Old Hall at Hanley and Ault) is considered, he must be amongst the most influential ceramic designers of any period. Much of his work remains to be identified, although wallpaper designs for American, and textiles for French and German manufacturers have recently been located.

Some of Dresser’s metalwork designs are still in production, such as his oil and vinegar sets and toast rack designs, now manufactured by Alessi and Alberto Alessi goes so far as to say Dresser 'knew the techniques of metal production better than any designer who has come to Alessi'.

One of his Old Hall designs is thought to have inspired Alan Garner's 1967 novel The Owl Service.

Partial bibliography

• Unity in Variety as Deduced from the Vegetable Kingdom (1859)
• The Rudiments of Botany, Structural and Physiological (1859)
• Popular Manual on Botany (1860)
• The Art of Decorative Design (1862)
• Development of Ornamental Art in the International Exhibition (1862)
• General Principles of Art, Decorative and Pictorial, with hints on colour, its harmonies and contrasts (1868)
• Principles of Decorative Design (1873)
• Studies in Design (1875)
• Japan, its Architecture, Art and Art-Manufactures (1882)
• Modern Ornamentation (1886)

Further reading

• Flanders, Judith. Inside the Victorian Home: a Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004. ISBN 978-0393052091.
• Halen, Widar. Christopher Dresser, a Pioneer of Modern Design. Phaidon: 1990. ISBN 0-7148-2952-8.

Durant, Stuart. Christopher Dresser. 1993

• Snodin, Michael and John Styles. Design & The Decorative Arts, Britain 1500–1900. V&A Publications: 2001. ISBN 1-85177-338-X.
• Whiteway, Michael. Christopher Dresser. A Design Revolution. V & A Publications, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, London 2004. ISBN 1-85177-427-0.
• Lyons, Harry. Christopher Dresser. The People's Designer 1834-1904. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1-85149-455-3.
• Morley, Christopher. Dresser's Decorative Design. 2010