William Morris
William Morris on Wikipedia
William Morris, photograph in collection of photographic portraits by Frederick Hollyer in three volumes, vol. II, ca. 1884. Museum no. X.589
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. He founded a design firm in partnership with the artist Edward Burne-Jones, and the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti which profoundly influenced the decoration of churches and houses into the early 20th century. He was also a major contributor to reviving traditional textile arts and methods of production, and one of the founders of the SPAB, now a statutory element in the preservation of historic buildings in the UK. Morris wrote and published poetry, fiction, and translations of ancient and medieval texts throughout his life. His best-known works include The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems (1858), The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), A Dream of John Ball (1888) and the utopian News from Nowhere (1890). He was an important figure in the emergence of socialism in Britain, founding the Socialist League in 1884, but breaking with that organization over goals and methods by the end of the decade. He devoted much of the rest of his life to the Kelmscott Press, which he founded in 1891. The 1896 Kelmscott edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is considered a masterpiece of book design.
William Morris & wallpaper design
Morris's name and reputation are indissolubly linked to wallpaper design, but there is a tendency to over-estimate …
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'Trellis' wallpaper design by William Morris, 1862
Trellis was Morris’s first attempt at designing a wallpaper. Its pattern is said to have been inspired by the garde…
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Designs for 'Fruit' and 'Wreath' wallpapers by William Morris, 1862-6
Two designs for wallpapers by William Morris. It borrows motifs from Morris's medieval-style tapestry work.…
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A Morris and De Morgan tile-panel
The early commissions of Morris and Company for decorative work at St James Palace (1865-67), the Green Dining-Room…
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William Morris and the history of the V&A collections
William Morris was an influential supporter of the South Kensington Museum. His firm contributed to the decoration …
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Ephemeral or permanent? Illuminating the Bullerswood carpet
The Bullerswood carpet was designed by William Morris and woven by Morris & Co, Hammersmith, London, in about 1889.…
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Chronology
- 1834
Born on 24 March 1834 in Walthamstow.
- 1848-1852
Attends Marlborough School for three years. Privately educated by the Rev. F B Guy 1851-1852.
- 1852-1855
Attends Exeter College, Oxford, with the intention of becoming a clergyman. Meets Edward Burne-Jones, also a first-year undergraduate. His love of medieval art and architecture begins while at college.
- 1855
Comes into his inheritance of £900 per annum. Makes a walking tour of the Gothic cathedrals in northern France with Burne-Jones.
- 1856
Begins work in the architectural office of G E Street. Meets Phillip Webb and, later that year, Dante Gabriel Rosetti. Morris abandons his fledgeling career in architecture and becomes an artist.
- 1857
Morris, Burne-Jones, Rosetti and various others paint the Oxford Union frescoes. Meets Jane Burden, one of Rosetti's models.
- 1859
Marries Jane Burden.
- 1861
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. founded. Founder members include Ford Madox Brown, Burne-Jones, Rosetti and Webb.
- 1862-1867
Designs the first of his wallpapers for the Company. Publishes poetry including The Life and Death of Jason and The Earthly Paradise.
- 1868-1869
Studies Icelandic with Eirikr Magnusson, and the following year publishes translations of he Saga of Gunnlaug Worm-tongue and The Story of Grettir the Strong.
- 1870
Publishes a prose tranlation from the Icelandic of the Volsunga Saga. Commits himself to radical Socialist political activity.
- 1871-1873
Morris and Rosetti become joint tenants of Kelmscott Manor, Oxfordshire. Travels to Iceland. In 1873, travels to northern Italy with Burne-Jones.
- 1875-1877
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. dissolved and reconstituted as Morris & Co., with Morris as sole proprietor. In 1877 Morris founds The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.
- 1878
The Morris family move into Kelmscott House in Hammersmith. Made honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.
- 1884-1890
Publishes Art and Socialism and A Summary of the Principles of Socialism. Founds the Socialist League. Becomes deeply involved in political activism, and is arrested in connection with free speech demonstrations.
- 1891
Founds the Kelmscott Press at Hammersmith. Declines the offer of the poet laureateship after Tennyson's death.
- 1894-1896
Publishes The Wood Beyond the World. Begins work on the Kelmscott Chaucer, designed by Morris and illustrated by Burne-Jones, and published in 1896. Also publishes The Well at World's End.
- 1896
Dies on 3 October at Kemscott House. Buried in Kelmscott Village churchyard.
Event - Masters of Style: Ten Great Designers
Thu 25 April 2013 14:00
SHORT COURSE: Explore the lives, work and legacy of ten of the greatest designers of the late 19th and 20th centuries whose ideas have helped to shape the appearance of the modern world.
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