William Morris's Life

William Morris’ Life

Artist, designer, printer, typographer, bookbinder, craftsman...

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The Multitasking Man 3

“The Diligent Study of Nature” 4

Medieval Crafts Guilds 5

Patterns from Nature 5

The Kelmscott Press 6

The Arts and Crafts Movement 7

The Crafts Guilds 7

Influence on Art Education 8

William Morris’s Life

Valenzuela Castro Leira Alesy/ Lopez Beltrán Oscar Armando/ Espino Landeros Aries/ Castillo Nuñez Daniel Jr./ Alderete Flores Jonathan Emilio/ Barragán Zamorano Luis Eduardo/ Team No. 1/ Autonomous University

of Sinaloa/ Faculty of Architecture.

The Multitasking ManArtist, designer, printer, typographer, bookbinder, craftsman, poet, writer and champion of socialist ideals, just some things that William Morris was. He believed that a designer should have a working knowledge of any media that he used and as a result he spent a lot of time teaching himself a wide variety of techniques.

William Morris was a leading member of the Arts and Crafts Movement. He is best known for his pattern designs, particularly on fabrics and wall papers. His vision in linking art to industry by applying the values of fine art to the production of commercial design was a key stage in the evolution of design as we know it today. Like many designers of his time, Morris was skilled in a wide range of arts and crafts. He also founded the Kelmscott Press which published high quality hand bound books and was very influential in the revival of the private press.

William Morris’s Wallpaper

The Diligent Study of NatureThe creative approach that William Morris employed in his designs was revealed in a lecture from 1874: “first, diligent study of Nature and secondly, study of the work of the ages of Art”.

Morris felt that the “diligent study of Nature” was important, as nature was the perfect example of God’s design. He saw this as the spiritual antidote to the decline in social, moral and artistic standards during the industrial Revolution. Likewise the “Study of the work of the ages of Art”, a reference to the appreciation of art history, was equally important as Morris encouraged artists to look to the past for their inspiration believing that the art of his own age was

inferior. Morris’ solution was flr a return to the values of the Gothic art of the middle Ages, where artist and craftsmen had worked together with a common purpose: To glorify God through the practice of their skills. The model for this solution was the medieval crafts guilds which he saw as a type of socialist brotherhood where everybody fulfilled themselves according to their level of ability. Morris felt that this would enhance the quality of life for all, and that

artistic activity itself would be seen as a force for good in society.

Bird oven textile design, 1878

Honeysuckle, 1876

The Medieval Crafts Guilds

               The  medieval  cra-s  guilds  were  groups  of  ar5sts,  architects,  and  cra-smen  who  formed  an  alliance  to  maintain  high  standards  of  workmanship,  regulate  trade  and  compe55on,  and  protect  the  secrets  of  their  cra-s.  The  guilds  were  usually  composed  of  smaller  workshops  of  associated  cra-s  from  the  same  town  who  banded  together  into  larger  groups  for  their  own  protec5on  and  prosperity.  They  operated  on  a  Master,  Journeyman  and  Appren5ce  system  where  the  master  would  take  on  appren5ces  to  train  them  in  the  skills  of  his  cra-.  The  appren5ces  were  'bound'  to  work  for  free  for  that  master  for  a  period  of  around  five  to  nine  years

In  return  the  master  would  look  a-er  their  welfare  and  educa5on  in  the  skills  of  his  cra-  un5l  they  graduated  as  journeymen.  As  journeymen,  they  were  not  only  paid  for  their  work  but  also  free  to  go  and  work  for  other  masters.  In  5me,  if  a  journeyman  demonstrated  outstanding  skill  in  his  cra-,  he  could  advance  in  the  guild  to  the  posi5on  of  master  and  take  on  his  own  appren5ces.

Patterns from Nature

       Morris  was  one  of   the  great  paDern  designers.  His  classic  designs  are  s5ll  commercially   available  as  wallpapers  and  tex5les.  His  paDerns  are   inspired  by   his   in5mate  knowledge  of  natural  forms  discovered  through  drawing  and  stylized  through  his  detailed  knowledge  of  historical  styles.  They  were   usually   5tled   with   the   names  of   the   flowers   that   they   depicted   such   as   'Chrysanthemum',   'Jasmine',  'Acanthus',   and   'Sunflower'.   In   effect,  Morris  took   the  natural  forms  that  he  found  outside   in   the  woods  and  meadows  and  used  them  to  decorate  the  inside  of  our  homes.  His  wallpaper  designs  were  echoed  in  his  tex5le,  tapestry  and  carpet  designs.  Their  images  are  similar,  only   simplified   due  to   the   limita5ons  of   coarser  media.  Morris'  design  for   'Trellis',  his  first  aDempt  at  a  wallpaper  design,  was  based  on  roses  growing  over   trellises  in  the  garden  at  the  Red  House.  The  paDern  shows  a  medieval  influence  as  it  is  recalls  the  ornamental  decora5on  to  be  found  on  illuminated  manuscripts  and  tapestries.  The  birds  and  insects  which  were  later  added  to  the  final  design  were  drawn  by  Philip  Webb,  the  architect  of  the  Red  House.  'Trellis'  was  one  of  Morris'  favourite  designs  and  he  chose  it  to  decorate  his  bedroom  at  KelmscoD  House  in  London  where  he  spent  his  final  years.

'Trellis',  1862

The Kelmscott PressIn 1891, Morris founded the Kelmscott Press, named after the village near Oxford where he had lived since 1871. The Kelmscott Press produced high quality hand-printed books to be seen and cherished as objects d'art

Morris designed and cut the typefaces, ornamental borders and title pages which were based on the style of medieval manuscripts, while the illustrations were created by the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Edward Burne-Jones. The books were printed on handmade paper, copied from 15th century Italian samples, and bound in vellum.

Although Morris looked to the past for inspiration, his aims anticipate modernist ideas on typography and layout: 'I began printing books with the hope of producing some which would have a definite claim to beauty, while at the same time they should be easy to read and should not dazzle the eye... I found I had to consider chiefly the following things: the paper, the form of the type, the relative spacing of the letters, the words, and the lines; and lastly the position of the printed matter on the page'.

Altogether Kelmscott published 53 titles (18,000 copies in all), including 'The Nature of Gothic', a chapter from 'The Stones of Venice' by the art critic, John Ruskin. Morris, who wrote the preface praising the book, had been greatly inspired by Ruskin whose writings influenced the Arts and Crafts movement by encouraging the revival of Gothic art and architecture. The Kelmscott Press was never a financial success as their beautifully hand-crafted books were too expensive to produce at a profit. It was an enterprise that Morris ran simply for pleasure. Kelmscott only ran for seven years and closed in 1898, two years after the death of Morris.

“Typefaces”, 1897

“Typefaces”, 1897

The Arts and Crafts Movement

The Arts and Crafts Movement (1850-1900) was a reaction against the Industrial Revolution. The development of the steam engine by James Watt in 1765 led to the mechanization of industry, agriculture and transportation and changed the life of the working man in Britain.

The cities and towns grew to accommodate the expanding industries and the influx of workers from the countryside looking for employment. However, living standards gradually deteriorated and industrialization left people with a sense that their life had changed for the worst. Many had sacrificed a rural lifestyle 'in England's green and pleasant land' for the sake of a job in the 'dark Satanic mills' of the Industrial Revolution. As a result, they lost that feeling of security and belonging which comes from living in smaller communities.

The members of the Arts and Crafts Movement included artists, architects, designers, craftsmen and writers. They feared that industrialization was destroying the environment in which traditional skills and crafts could prosper, as machine production had taken the pride, skill and design out of the quality of goods being manufactured.

They believed that hand crafted objects were superior to those made by machine and that the rural craftsman had a superior lifestyle to those who slaved in the urban mills and factories.

The Crafts Guilds

The Arts and Crafts Movement formed into various crafts guilds to try to recreate the dignified working environment that existed in the medieval crafts guilds. They gave themselves names such as the Century Guild, the Guild of Saint George, the Art Workers Guild and the Guild of Handicraft.

The Century Guild was the first of the craft guilds to form. It was founded in 1882, under the influence of William Morris, by the architect and designer A.H. Mackmurdo. In 1884 the guild published a quarterly journal called 'Hobby Horse' to promote their aims and ideals

Influence on Art Education

Among other noteworthy guilds was the prestigious Art Workers Guild, whose membership included lecturers and principles from the leading art schools. Walter Crane, the principal of the Royal College of Art in 1897-8 and a renowned illustrator of children's books, was a founding member. The architect and theorist, W. R. Lethaby, the first Professor of Design at the RCA, became the original director and co-founder of the London Central School of Arts and Crafts, the first college to introduce craft workshops to promote Arts and Crafts principles within mainstream art education.

The Decline of Arts and Crafts

Despite its high ideals, the Arts and Crafts Movement was essentially flawed. Their opposition to modern methods of production and the tendency to look back to the medieval world, rather than forward to a progressive era of complete mechanization, was what eventually sounded the death knell of the movement. They could only fail in their socialist ideal of

producing affordable quality hand-crafted design for the masses as the production costs of their designs were so high that they could only be purchased by the wealthy. Also, any movement which continually looks to the past for its inspiration must have a limited life span.

However, the greatest legacy of the Arts and Crafts movement was their

understanding of the relationship between design and our quality of life.

This was the start of a design evolution that would eventually culminate in the foundation of the Bauhaus School of Art and Design which became the prototype for art education in the 20th century.

Some representations of Walter Crane , on the left “The baby’s own

aesop (1887) and on the right “Neptune’s Horses” (1893)

Teapot by CHRISTOPHER DRESSER, 1879