William Morris was one of the most remarkable British artists and thinkers active in the second half of the 19th century. His enormously popular designs have continued to capture the imagination of people for well over a century.

At a time when mechanization introduced by the Industrial Revolution was increasingly inundating people’s lives with mass-produced, inferior-quality products, Morris sought to realize his own ideal of turning living into art by reviving the creative joy that accompanied day-to-day labor under the practices of medieval craft guilds, and through his comprehensive work in interior decoration.

Comprising over 95 exhibits, including wallpaper, textiles, chairs and other items of interior furnishings, as well as items related to Morris’s work for church stained glass windows, which constituted an important part of Morris’s oeuvre, this exhibition was designed to introduce the appeal of William Morris to a larger public, and put his work into context by showing some of it alongside examples of designs created by contemporaries.

Exhibits :

• 95 pieces

Catalogue texts :

• Yumiko Oto

Lenders :

• private collections

<image>
Willow Bough
Designed by William Morris
Photo © Brain Trust Inc.