William morris textile designer biography

He was the third child in a wealthy middle-class family, with his father being a financier and his mother coming from an affluent family in Worcester. Tragically, his older siblings passed away in infancy, making him effectively the eldest. InMorris began his studies at Exeter College in Oxford. His time at the college was pivotal; he became part of the Oxford Union and forged significant friendships, including with the artist Edward Burne-Jones.

His initial intention was to join the clergy, but his experiences at Oxford steered him toward a career in the arts. During his university years, Morris was profoundly influenced by the writings of John Ruskin and Charles Kingsley. William Morris was a seminal figure in the decorative arts, known for his exceptional contributions to textile design, furniture, wallpaper, and interior decoration.

His artistic career was marked by significant collaborations that fueled the Arts and Crafts Movement and influential designs that remain prominent today. Alongside Philip Webb, an architect, and several other colleagues, they established a company that became renowned for its production of stained glass, furniture, and textile designs.

They worked closely on stained glass and tapestry designs. His wallpapers and fabrics, featuring intricate floral and medieval motifs, were distinguished for their craftsmanship and became synonyms with the Arts and Crafts Movement. William Morris was a prolific poet and writer, crafting works that ranged from epic poems to novels. His collections, such as The Earthly Paradisea series of narrative poems, were celebrated for their rich language and use of classical and medieval literary themes.

These pieces are often heralded for laying the groundwork for modern fantasy literature. In his quest to harmonize content with form, William Morris established the Kelmscott Press inpropelling a renaissance in printing and book design. Morris held a strong passion for high-quality bookmaking and drew inspiration from medieval manuscripts with rich decorations and exquisite typefaces.

William Morris was a prominent figure in the socialist movement during Victorian Britain. He extended his passion from the arts to engage actively in political thought, founding the Socialist League and challenging the conventions of his time through lecturing and writing. Morris aligned with socialist ideologies in the s after initially embracing the decorative arts.

Disillusioned with the inequalities in Victorian society, he joined the Social Democratic Federation SDFthe first organized socialist group in Britain. Later, he and his daughter May made designs for panels for "embroider yourself" kits for cushion covers, fireplace screens, doorway curtains, bedcovers and other household objects. InMorris turned production of embroidery entirely over to his daughter.

In the late s Morris began to experiment with a genre, textiles for furnishing or upholstery.

William morris textile designer biography

His first design was jasmine trail or jasmine trellis —70based on a similar wallpaper design he had made in Inhe brought a skilled French silk weaver, Jacques Bazin, from Lyon to London, rented a studio at Great Esmond Yard, and established Bazin and his mechanical Jacquard loom there to make woven wooden fabrics. Inhe opened new workshops at Merton Abbeyseven miles southwest of London, for manufacturing printed and woven textiles.

The workshops were next to the River Wandleproviding a source of abundant clean water, and also had a grassy meadow where dyed clothes could be dried in the open air. He produced a number of furnishing fabrics there, including the Wey and Wandle designs. Morris made his first experiments with printed textiles for his company Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co.

These first textiles were recreations of earlier designs he had made from the s, and were printed for Morris by the workshop of Thomas Clarkson of Bannister Hall, in Lancaster. This was printed with synthetic analine dyes. Next he made Tulip and Willowa design he made inbut he was very disappointed by the result. He blamed the problem on the artificial dyes, and began doing research into the natural dyes which had been used in the 16th century.

The Strawberry Thief became one of Morris's best-known designs. It depicted a scene from his own garden, where thrushes came to dine upon the ripe strawberries. Morris moved with his family to Turham Green inwhich created greater space in his house at Queen Square in London william morris textile designer biography Morris had his workshop.

Morris and his assistant John Smith made a series of experiments with indigo and other natural dyes, but were unable to attain colours that satisfied Morris. InMorris tried working with a commercial printer, Wardle and Company, using wood blocks with a reduced number of colours and modern chemical dyes, This time he was dissatisfied with the lack of quality control by the workers, and the uneven results.

He therefore decided to establish his own workshop, where he could control everything. For printed textiles, the design was traced onto a block of pear wood, and then the wood was sculpted so only the desired surface would touch the fabric. Thin strips of brass were pounded edge-first into the block to make the fine lines. One block was used for each colour of the final fabric, The block was inked by placing into a vat of colorant, and then carefully placed onto the fabric on the table in front of the william morris textile designer biography. He pounded it with a mallet to impress the colour, then he lifted the block carefully, moved the fabric, re-inked the block, and printed the next section with the same colour.

When the first colour was finished, the finished fabric was set aside to dry. If more than one colour was used, once the fabric was dry, a block with the next colour would be inked and carefully impressed over the image left by the first. The same process and the same blocks could be used for making both fabrics and wallpaper. Since fifteen or more colours might be used, It was an extremely laborious and long process, sometimes lasting several weeks, and the cost was higher than that of mechanical printing methods.

Morris wrote that making tapestries was 'the noblest of all the weaving arts', and most suitable for his interest in reviving medieval arts and crafts. He set up his first tapestry loom inand made completed his first tapestry, was 'Acanthus and Vine' in He wove the tapestry himself, often getting up at dawn to work on a loom in his bedroom at Kelmscott House.

His design was modelled after the "large leaf" tapestries woven in France and Flanders in the 16th century, and he deliberately gave them a faded appearance to make them look two centuries old. He recorded that it took him five hundred sixteen and one half hours to complete. He has a loud voice and a nervous restless manner and a perfectly unaffected and businesslike address.

His talk indeed is wonderfully to the point and remarkable for clear good sense. Politically, Morris was a staunch revolutionary socialist and anti-imperialist, [ ] and although raised a Christian he came to be an atheist. He believed that it led to little more than a "yearning nostalgia or a sweet complaint" and that Morris became "a realist and a revolutionary" only when he adopted socialism in Morris's behaviour was often erratic.

Morris's ethos was that one should "have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. Besides being an artist William Morris was a prolific writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and translations of ancient and medieval texts. His first poems were published when he was 24 years old, and he was polishing his final novel, The Sundering Floodat the time of his death.

His daughter May's edition of Morris's Collected Works — runs to 24 volumes, and two more were published in Morris began publishing poetry and short stories in through The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine which he founded with his friends and financed while at university. It is a grimly realistic piece set during the Hundred Years War in which the doomed lovers Jehane and Robert have a last parting in a convincingly portrayed rain-swept countryside.

An additional volume was published under the title of Three Northern Love Stories in In the last nine years of his life, Morris wrote a series of imaginative fictions usually referred to as the "prose romances". Morris's prose style in these novels has been praised by Edward Jameswho described them as "among the most lyrical and enchanting fantasies in the English language.

On the other hand, L. Sprague de Camp considered Morris's fantasies to be not wholly successful, partly because Morris eschewed many literary techniques from later eras. Early fantasy writers like Lord DunsanyE. Eddison [ ] and James Branch Cabell [ ] were familiar with Morris's romances. The Wood Beyond the World is considered to have heavily influenced C.

Lewis 's Narnia series, while J. The young Tolkien attempted a retelling of the story of Kullervo from the Kalevala in the style of The House of the Wolfings ; [ ] Tolkien considered much of his literary work to have been inspired by an early reading of Morris, even suggesting that he was unable to better Morris's work; the names of characters such as " Gandolf " and the horse Silverfax appear in The Well at the World's End.

Sir Henry Newbolt 's medieval allegorical novel Aladore was influenced by Morris's fantasies. During his lifetime, Morris produced items in a range of crafts, mainly those to do with furnishing, [ ] including over designs for wall-paper, textiles, and embroideries, over for stained glass windows, three typefaces, and around borders and ornamentations for the Kelmscott Press.

Mackail asserted that Morris became "a manufacturer not because he wished to make money, but because he wished to make the things he manufactured. It is likely that much of Morris's preference for medieval textiles was formed — or crystallised — during his brief apprenticeship with G. Street had co-written a book on Ecclesiastical Embroidery inand was a staunch advocate of abandoning faddish woolen work on canvas in favour of more expressive embroidery techniques based on Opus Anglicanuma surface embroidery technique popular in medieval England.

He was also fond of hand-knotted Persian carpet [ ] and advised the South Kensington Museum in the acquisition of fine Kerman carpets. Morris taught himself embroidery, working with wool on a frame custom-built from an old example. Once he had mastered the technique he trained his wife Jane, her sister Bessie Burden and others to execute designs to his specifications.

Following in Street's footsteps, Morris became active in the growing movement to return originality and mastery of technique to embroidery, and was one of the first designers associated with the Royal School of Art Needlework with its aim to "restore Ornamental Needlework for secular purposes to the high place it once held among decorative arts.

Morris took up the practical art of dyeing as a necessary adjunct of his manufacturing business. He spent much of his time at Staffordshire dye works mastering the processes of that art and making experiments in the revival of old or discovery of new methods. One result of these experiments was to reinstate indigo dyeing as a practical industry and generally to renew the use of those vegetable dyes, such as the red derived from madderwhich had been driven almost out of use by the anilines.

Dyeing of wools, silks, and cottons was the necessary preliminary to what he had much at heart, the production of woven and printed fabrics of the highest excellence; and the period of incessant work at the dye-vat — was followed by a period during which he was absorbed in the production of textiles —and more especially in the revival of carpet-weaving as a fine art.

Morris's patterns for woven textiles, some of which were also machine made under ordinary commercial conditions, included intricate double-woven furnishing fabrics in which two sets of warps and wefts are interlinked to create complex gradations of colour and texture. Nineteenth and twentieth century avant-garde artistic movements took an interest in the typographical arts, greatly enriching book design and illustration.

Morris's designs, like the work of the Pre-Raphaelite painters with whom he was associated, referred frequently to medieval motifs. In he founded the Kelmscott Press, which by the time it closed in had produced over fifty works using traditional printing methods, a hand-driven press and hand-made paper. Morris invented three distinctive typefaces — Golden, Troy, and Chaucer, with the text being framed with intricate floral borders similar to illuminated medieval manuscripts.

His work inspired many small private presses in the following century. Morris's aesthetic and social values became a leading force in the Arts and Crafts Movement. The Kelmscott Press influenced much of the fine press movement in England and the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It brought the need for books that were aesthetic objects as well as words to the attention of the reading and publishing worlds.

At Kelmscott Press the book-making was under his constant supervision and practical assistance. It was his ambition to produce a perfect work to restore all the beauty of illuminated lettering, richness of gilding and grace of binding that used to make a volume the treasure of a king. His efforts were constantly directed towards giving the world at least one book that exceeded anything that had ever appeared.

Morris designed his type after the best examples of early printers, what he called his " golden type " which he copied after Jenson, Parautz, Coburger and others. With this in mind, Morris chose the paper which he adapted to his subject with the same care with which he selected his material for binding. As a result, only the wealthy could purchase his lavish works; Morris realized that creating works in the manner of the Middle Ages was difficult in a profit-grinding society.

President of the William Morris Society Hans Brill referred to Morris as "one of the outstanding figures of the nineteenth century", [ ] while Linda Parry termed him the "single most important figure in British textile production". Aymer Vallance was commissioned to produce the first biography of Morris, published inafter Morris's death, per the latter's wishes.

Morris has exerted a powerful influence on thinking about art and design over the past century. He has been the constant niggle in the conscience. How can we combat all this luxury and waste? What drove him into revolutionary activism was his anger and shame at the injustices within society. He burned with guilt at the fact that his "good fortune only" allowed him to live in beautiful surroundings and to pursue the work he adored.

One of the meeting rooms in the Oxford Uniondecorated with the wallpaper in his style, is named the Morris Room. Standen in West SussexEngland, was designed by Webb between and and decorated with Morris carpets, fabrics and wallpapers. Morris's homes Red House and Kelmscott Manor have been preserved. Red House was acquired by the National Trust in and is open to the public.

Kelmscott Manor is owned by the Society of Antiquaries of London and is open to the public. Ben Lieberman. In Walthamstow F. Source:William Morris Archive. Morris's literary works, translations, life and images, the Book Arts. Although best known for textile designs, Morris was notable for his work within the field of literature. His writings include:.

Morris's Beowulf was one of the first translations of the Old English poem into modern English. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. English textile artist, author, and socialist — For other people named William Morris, see William Morris disambiguation.

William Morris by Frederick Hollyer WalthamstowEssexEngland. HammersmithEngland. Textile designer poet translator socialist activist. Wallpaper and textile design fantasy fiction medievalism socialism. Jane Burden. Early life [ edit ]. Youth: — [ edit ]. Oxford and the Birmingham Set: — [ edit ]. Apprenticeship, the Pre-Raphaelites, and marriage: — [ edit ].

Career and fame [ edit ]. Red House and the Firm: — [ edit ]. Queen Square and The Earthly Paradise : — [ edit ]. Kelmscott Manor and Iceland: — [ william morris textile designer biography ]. Morris's Acanthus wallpaper design,left and a page from Morris's illuminated manuscript of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyamillustrated by Edward Burne-Jones.

Textile experimentation and political embrace: — [ edit ]. Two of Morris's designs: Snakeshead printed textile and "Peacock and Dragon" woven wool furnishing fabric Later life [ edit ]. Merton Abbey and the Democratic Federation: — [ edit ]. Socialist League: — [ edit ]. Left: the cover of the Socialist League's manifesto of featured art by Morris.

Right: detail of Woodpecker tapestry, The Kelmscott Press and Morris's final years: — [ edit ]. Main article: Kelmscott Press. Personal life [ edit ]. Work [ edit ]. Literature [ edit ]. First page of text, with typical ornamented border. Right: Troilus and Criseydefrom the Kelmscott Chaucer. Illustration by Burne-Jones and decorations and typefaces by Morris.

Textile design [ edit ]. See also: William Morris textile designs and William Morris wallpaper designs. Left: Cabbage and vine tapestry, Right: Design for "Tulip and Willow" indigo -discharge wood-block printed fabric, Book illustration and design [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ]. Arts and Crafts Movement founder William Morris was known for his intricate floral textile art, revolutionary ideas about design, and more.

Born in Walthamstow, East London inWilliam Morris was the third of nine children born to a wealthy family. He enjoyed a carefree childhood in the English countryside and a prestigious private education. As a young adult, Morris entered Exeter College at Oxford to study theology. Soon he was swayed by the writings of art critic John Ruskinwho argued that artists should observe nature rather than copying the Old Mastersas was standard practice for fine artists in academic training.

Morris was also enchanted by the medieval history and charm that Oxford had to offer, and increasingly disenchanted by the Church of England, ultimately deciding to pursue a life of art instead of religion. One of the models for this project, Jane Burden, caught the attention of both Rossetti and Morris. While she ultimately married William Morris, Jane maintained an intimate relationship with Rossetti for decades, which Morris reluctantly accepted.

The Arts and Crafts Movement revived traditional textile art techniques that had been made obsolete by machinery, including hand embroidery, weaving, and natural dyeing.