Monograms of A W N Pugin

Illustration: A W N Pugin. Four Monograms of the Holy Cross, 1844.

According to Dr Johnson, a monogram is 'a character compounded of several letters.' Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, in his 1844 publication Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume, Compiled from Ancient Authorities and Examples, gave an exhaustive analysis of the place that monograms held in the history of the Christian religion. Although to him the spiritual and symbolic significance and resonance of the monogram was of overriding importance, it is perhaps the decorative aspects of Pugin's examples that are more significant to us today.

The name Pugin is usually associated with ecclesiastical architecture and to some extent domestic, but much less so with that of decoration and pattern. This is clearly unfortunate to those interested in his decorative work as it is nearly always placed in an obviously subservient position to that of his architectural career. Pugin was a natural decorative artist with a sophisticated and intrinsic knowledge of colour, pattern and dimension. He produced a number of highly original decorative samples, often in the guise of vestments, for use within church services, many of which were never used by the Catholic Church, which was not in the business of changing ecclesiastical costumes and other decorative fundamentals to suit the needs of an enthusiastic English convert.

Illustration: A W N Pugin. Eight Monograms of Our Blessed Lady's Name, 1844.

However, Pugin produced decorative work in a number of interior disciplines including printed and woven, embroidery, stained glass and wallpaper. These examples, many of which were produced before the nineteenth century had reached its halfway stage, were very different from much of the interior accessory work produced in England, and indeed that of the more obvious trendsetter, France. Pugin's work shows a confidence and assurance that was often missing from English decorative work, much of which was derivative and subservient to work produced in Europe.

The four examples of monogram work that he produced for his 1844 publication, shows his commitment to his Christian belief, but also that of his creative commitment to the decorative arts. In some ways, the work has close connotations to much of his singular and obviously Puginesque style, particularly that found in his wallpaper design work. Borders are richly outlined in gold, with much of the colour fields being made up of equally bold and definite colour ranges. There is little subtlety or hesitancy, which perhaps might have been expected within the English decorative arts. That Pugin's decorative work paid little attention to any form of English reticence concerning colour and statement, perhaps says more about his confidence and assurity of direction than it does about his place in the history of the English decorative arts.

Illustration: A W N Pugin. Monogram of Our Blessed Lady's Name, 1844.

An interesting detail concerning these four examples of Pugin's decorative style, is the fact that much of the decorative detail takes on a surface pattern quality, with motifs produced giving an obviously stencilled appearance. This form of flat design was often put forward by Pugin as the only true example that should be shown towards surface pattern work. This in turn ties him very closely to the mid-nineteenth century Design Reform movement headed largely by the influential and focused civil servant Henry Cole. Cole often emphasised the two-dimensional quality of Pugin's pattern work in his instrumental mouthpiece the Journal of Design and Manufactures, which although only published for four years, produced an impact and impetus for the Design Reform movement.

Although Pugin was not necessarily a committed member of Cole's group, he was, near the end of his life, taking a much more active and central role in government policy towards both education and the manufacturing industry. Cole, although not entirely uncritical of what he sometimes saw as Pugin's manic elements, was also aware of his depth of knowledge concerning the decorative arts and his focused acknowledgement of the failures of and lack of direction of British manufacturing. In this respect, Cole brought Pugin into a much closer relationship with government policy making. It can only be surmised that if Pugin had lived a full life rather than dying at the ridiculously early age of forty in 1852, his influence, with the help of Cole, would have been much greater and perhaps more centrally focused, than was the case after his death.

Illustration: A W N Pugin. Monogram of the Holy Name, 1844.

Further reading links:
God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain
Pugin's Gothic Ornament: The Classic Sourcebook of Decorative Motifs with 100 Plates (Dover Pictorial Archives)
Pugin: A Gothic Passion
A. W. N. Pugin: Master of Gothic Revival
Pugin's Floral Ornament CD-ROM and Book (Dover Full-Color Electronic Design)
Pugin's Ecclesiastical Ornament (Dover Pictorial Archives)
The Collected Letters of A. W. N. Pugin: Volume 4: 1849-1850
The Collected Letters of A. W. N. Pugin: Volume 3: 1846-1848 (C Clpug T Collected Letters of)
Nineteenth-Century Design: From Pugin to Mackintosh
True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture
Contrasts: Or, a Parallel Between the Noble Edifices of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries and Similar Buildings of the Present Day Shewing the Present ... of Taste Accompanied by Appropriate Text.
George Myers: Pugin's Builder
Augustus Welby Pugin, Designer of the British Houses of Parliament: The Victorian Quest for a Liturgical Architecture
The Stained Glass of A.W.N. Pugin
A Treatise on Chancel Screens and Rood Lofts; Their Antiquity, Use, and Symbolic Signification
Augustus Pugin Versus Decimus Burton: A Victorian Architectural Duel