ABSTRACT
Dresser was a strong advocate for design reform, along with encouraging an engagement with Eastern, particularly Japanese art. One expression of Dresser’s fascination with Japan is found in this paper where he argued for the objective of combining utility and beauty in design: The ornamentalist should stand between the pure artist on the one side and the utilitarian on the other and should join them together. Dresser’s valuable and wide-ranging book Japan: Its Architecture, Art, and Art Manufactures was a valuable summation of his experiences in Japan and was influential in helping to continue the taste for Japonisme. The omamentalist should stand between the pure artist on the one side and the utilitarian on the other, and should join them together. In ancient Persian decorations and manuscripts clouds were drawn in a particular manner as ornaments, and thus drawn they were freely used in Persian decorative compositions.
