| Tapestries: The life and Art of William Morris |
William Morris is one of Britain’s most prolific textile designers with a talent in every area he managed to influence. A multi skilled designer with a appreciation of beautiful things, he developed a design portfolio that encompasses many genres in the applied arts.
Morris' Early years
In 1834 William Morris was born in Walthamstow, Essex. He attended Exeter College, Oxford where he met Edward Burne-Jones, who later became his business partner and lifelong friend. Initial plans to study for Holy Orders were abandoned in favour of becoming and architect. With such a creative mind Morris soon tired of this and joined his friend Burne-Jones to paint. Art became Morris’s forte and he developed talent in printing, poetry and learning how to weave. His tapestry work is undoubtedly his finest creation. Acanthus and Vine was Morris’s first tapestry, completed in 1879.
The Arts and Crafts Movement
The 1860’s saw a transformation of the applied arts when Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company was formed. This brought together some of the leading artists of the day as William Morris, Peter Paul Marshall, and Charles Faulkner began the Arts and Crafts Movement together with Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Maddox Brown. The tapestries and wall hangings created by Morris remain influential in the design world today. Morris said, ”Whatever you have in your room, think first of the walls, for they are that which makes your house and home.” The company eventually became known as Morris & Co in 1874.
William Morris Tapestries
Burne-Jones and Morris worked in partnership on some of the greatest tapestries to emerge from the Arts and Crafts Movement. Morris wove the tapestry that Burne-Jones designed. One of the most popular tapestries is the Quest for the Holy Grail, now on display in the Birmingham Museum and is a set of six tapestries depicting this famous legend. The Adoration of the Magi is perhaps Morris’s most well known religious tapestry, and was also the most complex. Depicting the nativity scene, the foreground is scattered with British flowers and Morris declared that, “nothing better of the kind has ever been done, old or new.”
The Woodpecker is one of the few designed by Morris himself and depicts the bird sitting in the branches of a fruit tree surrounded by an ornate background of leaves, which came to typify the Morris design. An embroidered inscription of Morris’s own poetry was included in the tapestry design. The use of colour and intricate detail can be seen in The Tree of Life, a well known Morris design, which also serves to display his expertise in patterns.
A timeless appeal
Morris once said,” Have nothing in your houses that you do know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” One of the most prolific artists of the nineteenth century, his works are seen today in modern homes and are a testament to the fact that true beauty is timeless.
Angela Dawson-Field writes on a number of subjects for the Tapestry House including William Morris tapestries.
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