Who Is William Morris?

William Morris (1834–1896) was an English designer, poet, novelist, printer, translator, and revolutionary socialist whose work shaped the second half of the nineteenth century in ways still visible today. His pattern designs are reproduced on wallpaper and textile in millions of British, American, and Australian homes. The Arts and Crafts movement he founded in 1861 with the design firm of that year is the founding moment of modern decorative practice. The Kelmscott Press he founded in 1891 created the modern private-press tradition. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) he founded in 1877 still defines British heritage practice. The 1880s socialist work and the utopian novel News from Nowhere (1890) are the most-read English socialist literature of the late nineteenth century.

According to the William Morris Society's biographical entry, the size of his contribution makes him hard to summarise: "Morris would become one of the most significant figures in the arts and crafts movement, a man of far ranging creativity and knowledge."

The basics

• Born: 24 March 1834, Walthamstow, Essex (now east London)
• Died: 3 October 1896, Kelmscott House, Hammersmith
• Profession: designer, poet, novelist, printer, translator, political activist
• Best known for: founding the Arts and Crafts design firm (1861); wallpaper and textile patterns (Trellis 1862, Strawberry Thief 1883, Willow Bough 1887, Acanthus 1875); the Kelmscott Press (1891); the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (1877); the utopian novel News from Nowhere (1890)

Designer: the firm of 1861

The William Morris Society characterises the design firm Morris founded in 1861 with Webb, Burne-Jones, Brown, Rossetti, and Faulkner: "The firm fast became highly fashionable and much in demand, and it profoundly influenced interior decoration throughout the Victorian period, with Morris designing tapestries, wallpaper, fabrics, furniture, and stained glass windows." The firm's reach was unprecedented for the era: by the time Morris took it over solely in 1875 it had decorated cathedrals, churches, country houses, and a number of major institutional commissions including the Tapestry Room at St James's Palace.

Designer: the wallpapers and textiles

Morris's most-reproduced contribution is the body of pattern design he produced from 1862 to his death. The V&A's article on William Morris and wallpaper design identifies the foundation of his approach: "The success of Morris's wallpaper designs relies on his well-practiced and close observation of nature." The patterns are based on identifiable British garden plants (willow, honeysuckle, daisy, acanthus, strawberry, marigold, fritillary, pomegranate), printed using hand-cut woodblocks loaded with natural mineral- and vegetable-based dyes (indigo, madder, weld), and built around hidden geometric grids that organise the apparent informality of the surface.

Poet and novelist

Morris was a major Victorian poet before he was a designer. The V&A's introduction to William Morris records the breakthrough literary work of the late 1860s: "During this period, Morris was also working on The Earthly Paradise, an epic poem with an anti-industrial message that established Morris as one of the foremost poets of his day."

The literary career runs alongside the design career for the rest of his life. Major works include The Defence of Guenevere (1858), The Life and Death of Jason (1867), the three-volume Earthly Paradise (1868–70), the prose romances of the late 1880s and 1890s, and the utopian socialist novel News from Nowhere (1890). He turned down the Poet Laureateship after Tennyson's death in 1892.

Conservationist: the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, 1877

The William Morris Society records the founding of his most consequential institution outside design: "In 1877 he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings to campaign against the damage caused by Victorian architectural 'restoration'." SPAB is the oldest national heritage-conservation body in Britain, and the principles it laid down (repair, don't restore; record, don't replace; use traditional materials and methods) still govern conservation practice in the UK and most of the English-speaking world.

Socialist activist

The William Morris Society characterises the political turn of the 1880s: "Embracing Marxism and influenced by anarchism, in the 1880s Morris became a committed revolutionary socialist activist." He joined the Social Democratic Federation in 1883, broke with it in 1884 to co-found the Socialist League, edited the League's journal Commonweal from 1885 to 1890, and lectured continuously through the 1880s on the relationship between art, work, and political economy.

Printer: the Kelmscott Press, 1891

The Press, founded in Hammersmith in 1891, produced 53 books over seven years. The masterpiece is the 1896 Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, with 87 illustrations by Edward Burne-Jones, generally considered the most beautiful book of the nineteenth century and the founding work of the modern private-press movement. Doves Press, Ashendene Press, and the German Cranach-Presse all derive directly from the Kelmscott example, as do most twentieth-century fine-press traditions.

Why Morris still matters

Each of Morris's contributions has had a long afterlife. The Arts and Crafts movement spread from the firm of 1861 to the Cotswolds, to Vienna and Darmstadt, to American Craftsman architecture and the Mission Style. The wallpapers and textiles are still printed (some by Sanderson, some under license) and remain the most-reproduced decorative pattern legacy in British design. SPAB still operates. The Kelmscott Press founded the modern private press movement. News from Nowhere is in print continuously across English-speaking countries.

Browse the full archive of Morris-influenced patterns at William Morris Wallpaper.

FAQ

Who was William Morris in one sentence?

The most-influential English designer, poet, and decorative-arts reformer of the late nineteenth century, founder of the Arts and Crafts movement, and the writer whose wallpaper and textile designs are still in continuous production 160 years after they were first printed.

What did William Morris do?

He worked as a designer (wallpapers, textiles, stained glass, furniture, tapestries, carpets, embroidery), a poet (The Earthly Paradise, News from Nowhere, the prose romances), a printer (the Kelmscott Press, including the Kelmscott Chaucer), a translator (the Aeneid, the Odyssey, the Iliad, several Icelandic sagas), a conservationist (founder of SPAB), and a revolutionary socialist activist (Social Democratic Federation, Socialist League, Commonweal).

What is William Morris best known for today?

His wallpaper and textile designs. Patterns like Strawberry Thief (1883), Willow Bough (1887), Acanthus (1875), Pimpernel (1876), and Trellis (1862) are still printed and sold under license today, and Morris designs are the most-reproduced decorative pattern legacy in British design. After the wallpapers, the next-most-known parts of his work are the utopian socialist novel News from Nowhere (1890) and the Kelmscott Chaucer (1896).

Was William Morris an artist or a designer?

Both, plus much else. Morris worked across painting (briefly, in the 1850s), poetry, prose romance, design (wallpaper, textile, stained glass, furniture, tapestry, carpet, embroidery), printing, calligraphy, translation, lecturing, and political activism. The Arts and Crafts movement he founded was specifically a project to break down the Victorian boundary between fine art and decorative art, and Morris's career across all these media is the practical demonstration of that principle.