William Morris

Selfportrait of William Morris (ca. 1897-1900) http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

24 March 1834, Walthamstow - 3 October 1896, Hammersmith. British socialist, artist, designer, craftsman and author. He was one of the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and subsequently co-founded the Arts and Crafts Movement. Another aspect he is famously known for is his utopian novel News from Nowhere (1890) depicting an ideal rural and socialist society. He invented the Kelmscott Press and revolutionized how the living sphere was precepted by rejecting the Victorian ideology of productivity and utility. Today we still encounter Morris’ art especially through his famous decorative medieval-inspired wallpapers (Lesjak 2006).

This image shows 4 different wallpaper drafts in a floral design by Morris
https://prometheus.uni-koeln.de/de/image/dresden-697d0c27edd0d33584a561fc6ff76e833731d602

Life

His academic career starts 1853 at the Exeter College of the University of Oxford, where he meets Edward Burne-Jones, with whom he among other friends founded the company Morris & Co in 1861, producing handcrafted furniture, stained‐glass windows and the famous floral-medieval designs (ibid.). At first his engagement in the Oxford Movement pointed to career in the clergy, later on he was heavily influenced by John Ruskin both politically and artistically. Politically in terms of becoming akin to socialism and Communism, artistically in terms of his preference for gothic and more general medieval designs and architecture. He also put much effort into preserving ancient buildings and brought the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings into life. Before becoming a designer, he was also under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites leading him to painting, which he gave up before turning to and founding the Arts and Craft Movement.

Worldview

A deep belief in the conjunction of ‘beauty’ and ‘use’ heavily influenced his standpoint on art and politics, because he saw the necessary conditions for producing art in the society which enables it. In contrast to other socialists and Marxists he put an emphasis on the alienation of workers and advocated to transform work into a ‘useful’ process of production, where the aspect of a holistic approach would erase the necessary alienation of workers in the factory (ibid).

In 1884 he joined Henry Mayers Hyndman’s Democratic Federation, where he toured through industrial areas in order to spread the idea of socialism. Later on he turned away from Hyndman due to his autocratic tendencies and originated the Hammersmith Socialist Society, which became a meeting point for lectures on socialism as well as organizing open-air meetings throughout London. He actively participated along with George Bernard Shaw at a banned demonstration on Trafalgar Square which became famously known as ‘Bloody Sunday’ due to its violent dissolution by the police.

Sources

"Morris, William." World Encyclopedia. Philip's, 2004. Oxford Reference. Date Accessed 6 Feb. 2021 <https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-7787>.

"William Morris." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 22 Feb. 2016. Date Accessed 6 Feb. 2021
<https://www.academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/William-Morris/53819>.

Cannon, John, and Robert Crowcroft. "Morris, William." A Dictionary of British History, Oxford University Press, 2015. Oxford Reference. Date Accessed 6 Feb. 2021 <https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191758027.001.0001/acref-9780191758027-e-2377>.

Chilvers, Ian. "Morris, William." The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. Oxford University Press, 2015. Oxford Reference. Date Accessed 6 Feb. 2021 <https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191782763.001.0001/acref-9780191782763-e-1680>.

Cochrane, June. "Morris, William." The Oxford Companion to British History, Oxford University Press, 2015. Oxford Reference. Date Accessed 6 Feb. 2021 <https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199677832.001.0001/acref-9780199677832-e-2944>.

Lesjak, Carolyn. "Morris, William." The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature, Oxford University Press, 2006. Oxford Reference. Date Accessed 6 Feb. 2021 <https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195169218.001.0001/acref-9780195169218-e-0329>.