Valerie Sipp: William Morris essay

William Morris was a man of many trades. He was an artist, writer, poet, business owner and an innovator. He was a man of humble background with no famous connections; who worked his way through school while meeting with friends that would help him shape his legacy. Through his textiles, embroidery and tapestry, he would push forward the Arts and Crafts movement, help bring on the Gothic revival and become a Pre-Raphaelite pioneer. His love of nature and medieval times would influence his work, breaking away from the Victorian style that was forced on him from a young age. His eye for detail and tradition would make him an innovator and the respected art figure that we still speak of today.[i]

William Morris was born and raised during the Victorian Age in Walthamstow, not far from London, on March 24th, 1834. He is the oldest son of nine children. His parents were William Morris and Emma Shelton, a middle-class couple with no powerful connections.[ii] It was during his childhood that Morris discovered his interest for nature. He was avid about wandering around outdoors and, as an adult, described himself as “a lover of sad lowland country”[iii] At the same time, reading took up a great deal of his time. He was consumed with books at the age of four and admitted that he himself couldn’t ever remember a time in his life when he didn’t know how to read.[iv] These two attributes would stay with him for the rest of his life, influencing his works as adult.

Morris was accepted into Oxford University, in England, in 1853 at the age of 18. His focus was architecture. His views dealing with architecture would change as he began to meet lifelong friends and joined groups that would alter his thoughts of not only how things look, but the process of getting to that finished result. It was at Oxford that Morris met Edward Burn-Jones. They shared similar interests in reading theology, medieval poetry and studying art.[v] Morris and Burn-Jones would remain friends for their entire lives. They would grow up to be leaders in the Pre-Raphaelite movement; Morris with his textiles and Burn-Jones with his paintings.[vi] While at Oxford, Morris joined an undergraduate aesthetic circle that focused on the Middle Ages. They read poetry and books from the era, all of which Morris became consumed with. He said that he was “born out of his due time”[vii] when speaking of his life of a man trapped in the Victorian age. The thing that Morris appreciated most was the hand-craftsmanship and decorative arts of the time. It was a time when there were no hierarchy of artistic mediums, all art was appreciated for its craft. Further into his Oxford education he began working at the office of George Edmund Street, a home for England’s leading Gothic Revival architects. That is where he met Philip Webb, who would go on to be another lifelong friend and an influence on his work. Together they studied architecture and painting at Edmund Street and were commissioned for ceiling and upper wall paintings.[viii]

In 1860, during his adult years, Morris commissioned Webb to build a house for himself and his new wife entirely out of red brick and red tiles; it would come to be known as simply “the Red House”. Alongside other designers, Morris designed every piece of furniture for the house. This gave Morris the idea of putting together a company that would create well made, hand crafted furniture for people’s homes. A year after giving Webb the commission, Morris put together a decorative arts firm that he formed with Burne-Jones, Webb and several other partners called Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company. The focus was entirely on the Middle Age classical style that Morris became enthralled in while at Oxford. They worked with traditional craftsmen interiors such as carvings, stained glass, metal-work, paper hangings, painted fabrics (also known as chintzes) and carpets. They also worked on much smaller projects like knotted and woven carpet, silk damasks, jewelry and glass wares. In 1875, Morris came to the conclusion that the decorative arts industry was his life’s passion and took full control of the company, buying out all of the other members. From that day forward, the company was referred to as Morris & Company, or simply the Company. The Company worked in several different styles. It worked as a place for patrons to come to purchase textiles, furniture or stained glass windows. Or a person also had the option of having Morris come to their home to make design suggestions.[ix]
Through the Company, Morris would make a name for himself with his textiles. It was here that he made patterns that would break the mold of Victorian era style prints, in both technique and style. He started the process of shading objects in his textiles; not to make them look round but to give the object a firmer place in space.[x] His textiles were a thing of pride for Morris, he spoke very fondly of the process:

"Almost all the designs we use for surface decoration, wallpapers, textiles, and the like, I design myself. I have had to learn the theory and to some extent the practice of weaving, dyeing and textile printing: all of which I must admit has given me and still gives me a great deal of enjoyment."[xi]

His style was a much different look than what Europe was used to. The Victorian style had brought with it the idea that wallpapers and textiles were meant to be flat with no sense of dimension. But Morris had the preconceived notion that wallpapers are meant to show the nature that is just past the wall it is meant to cover.[xii]

Morris taught himself how to embroider, working with the traditional wool and frame. His mastery of embroidery would help the growing movement and return of embroidery by working with associations like the Royal School of Art Needlework, whose sole purpose was to “restore Ornamental Needlework to secular purposes to the high place it once held among decorative arts.”[xiii] Morris began working with wallpaper in the 1860s, taking on the more ancient technique of woodblock printing (the art of using several carved blocks of wood to lay down ink, it is a long but effective technique) instead of the more modern roller printing technique that was more commonly used. When dying fabrics, Morris also chose to use the classic technique of indigo dyeing over the newer technique called anilines. Many of Morris’ wallpaper samples and other dyed fabrics still survive today because he used the traditional dyes instead of the newer chemical dyes.[xiv] Morris’ use of these two techniques is a result of his study of the medieval practices of sticking with tradition and hand crafted arts. His prints all shared a common natural theme with all of his prints containing plants, birds or fruit. This derived from his love of the outdoors as a child; his prints were ruminants of a time before the industrial revolution that was currently making its way across Europe.[xv]
It is in this regard that Morris somewhat contradicts himself. While all of the wallpapers and textiles were designed by him, it was rare that he ever worked on any of them himself. Some things would make their way through his company without him ever having been in the same room. It is true that he used traditional techniques of woodblocks, but this was done in an assembly line type of manner. Every person in his work room would have a specific task and they would apply that task to the textile or wallpaper or drapery or what have you, and pass it on to the next person.[xvi]

During his lifetime, Morris was more traditionally known for his writings than for his artistic abilities.[xvii] His poetry was highly regarded, but it wasn’t without its critics. Some people dismissed his works as hard to understand, unorganized and clumsy. It is said that his work must be read precisely and slowly to fully appreciate his style of writing. Morris produced writings with amazing speed, publishing hundreds of poems with ease.[xviii] One of his best known works is The Defense of Guenevere.

But, knowing not that they would have her speak,
She threw her wet hair backward from her brow,
Her hand close to her mouth touching her cheek,

As though she had had there a shameful blow,
And feeling it shameful to feel ought but shame
All through her heart, yet felt her cheek burned so,

She must a little touch it...[xix]

One of Morris’ final projects focused on book printing. Inspired by medieval illuminated books, he created a printing press that would duplicate the ornate style of illuminated books. Morris took up the hobby of illuminating much like many men did during the Victorian age. It was an activity that middle class men could do that was the equivalent to embroidery (which was seen as something only women did). Both were seen as art, and both were just as time consuming as the other.[xx] His new interest in illuminated books inspired him to create the Kelmscott Press. He created it for his own personal use and it was never intended to be used for mass production of books. With this press, Morris designed font types that were based on roman type. He enlarged photographs and made ornate borders that are traditional with illuminated books. The first fully completed book on the press was a translation of Caxton’s The Golden Legend of Voragine. He would print several short stories over time, distributing copies to his close friends. In the Kelmscott’s seven years of existence, it would produce 53 titles. Two years after Morris’ death, the press was no longer used.[xxi]

Morris died more than 110 years ago, but his work still lives on today.[xxii] He left behind a legacy with his textiles and prints that would have us still talking about him today. His prints are still appreciated today for their beauty and boundary breaking. Though he was better known as a writer during his life, his poems and stories are rarely spoken of and are not studied in schools today. In most instances he is not even referred to as a writer. Instead he is remembered as a print making, wall paper designing, medieval age loving, embroidering outdoorsmen who broke outside the canon of the Victorian style and changed textiles forever.

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[i] Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, William Morris, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris (date accessed: February 1st, 2010)
[ii] J.W. Mackail, the Life of William Morris (London: Electric Book Company Ltd, 1899) 8-12
[iii] Jake Lindsay, William Morris: His Life and Work (Great Britain: Constable and Company, 1975) 3
[iv] Mackail, the Life of William Morris, 12
[v] Wikipedia
[vi] Victorian Web, William Morris: A Brief Biography, http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/morris/wmbio.html (date accessed: February 4th, 2010) [vii]Ibid
[viii] Wikipedia
[ix] Youtube, William Morris: British Avant-Garde Designer, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3kLR4N10Qg (date accessed: February 19th, 2010)
[x] Paul Thompson, the Work of William Morris (New York: Viking Press, 1967) 89
[xi] Wikipedia
[xii] Thompson, the Work of William Morris, 88
[xiii] Wikipedia
[xiv] Youtube
[xv] Ibid
[xvi] Thompson, the Work of William Morri, 85
[xvii] Ibid, 162
[xviii] Ibid, Ibid
[xix] Ibid, 164
[xx] Ibid, 134
[xxi] Ibid, 143
[xxii] Nicholas salmon with Derek Baker, The William Morris Chronology (England: Thoemmes Press, 1996) 285