!44: English Craftsman, Poet, Writer, & Socialist - William Morris

!±8± English Craftsman, Poet, Writer, & Socialist - William Morris

William Morris, founder of the 'Socialist' movement, founder of 'British Arts & Crafts Movement,' the finest known designer of wallpaper & patterned fabric, poet, and writer, was born on March 24, 1834, at Elm Houses, Walthamstow, Essex. Morris showed an early propensity to reading. By the age of four, he had read nearly all Waverley novels. When Morris' family moved to Woodford Hall in 1840, he got a chance to explore and closely experience animal nature. Following William's father's death, the Morris family relocated to Water House in 1854. The artist joined the Marlborough School, where he realized his liking for architecture.

By 1852, Morris joined Exeter College, Oxford, and met Edward Burne-Jones. Proclivity for John Ruskin's essays and Lord Tennyson's poetry bracketed them together as they studied art, medieval poetry, theology & history, and popularized the Pre-Raphaelites brotherhood. As years progressed at the university, the duo realized an interest to contribute to social reform over priesthood. "The Nature of Gothic" by John Ruskin enthused Morris' inclination towards 'Socialism.'

The artist decided to become an architect and in 1856, he was an apprentice under George Edmund Street, a leading Gothic revival architect. Morris founded the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine, where he published his poetry and proposed to raise the status of artisans to artists, thereby obliterating the presence of artistic hierarchy, and stressing on the revival of traditional textile arts and its production techniques. The magazine survived only for a year, but a life-long friendship of William with Dante Gabriel Rossetti emerged, under whose guidance, he pursued painting.

Morris married Jane Burden, a model, on April 26, 1859. Jane's portrait "La belle Iseult," is his only surviving easel painting at the Tate Gallery. In 1859, he appointed Philip Webb to design his Red House in Kent. Realizing the lack of aesthetic textiles and the furniture of his liking, he designed it himself.

Subsequently, William Morris, together with Charles Faulkner, P. P. Marshall, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and several others, co-founded a decorative design firm called Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., in 1861. The firm undertook work, primarily for churches. Their art style included carving, stained glass, metal-work, paper-hangings, chintzes (printed fabrics), and carpets, painted windows, mural decoration, furniture, metal & glass wares, embroideries, jewellery, woven & knotted carpets, silk damasks, and tapestries. The participation of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in the International Exhibition, 1862, brought fame to the firm. By 1874, the partnership dissolved due to internal issues, but the firm continued as Morris & Co. with Morris as its chief owner. Interestingly, the licenses of Morris & Co. are sold until date to Sanderson & Sons and the Liberty of London.

Morris' forte was poetry, fiction, and the translations of ancient and medieval texts. His celebrated works are "The Defense of Guenevere and Other Poems" (1858), "The Earthly Paradise" (1868-1870), "A Dream of John Ball," and the "Utopian News from Nowhere." Morris composed the series of fictions, "The Wood Beyond the World" and "The Well at the World's End," commonly referred to as the "prose romances," creating a landmark in the history of fantasy fiction.

Morris founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, in 1877, and the Kelmscott Press, in 1891. He contributed largely to the Arts & Crafts Movement. The artists also accomplished a short stint in politics (Liberty party), soon abandoning the Socialist league. He juggled between the company, the Kelmscott House, the Kelmscott Press, and Kelmscott Manor.

Morris devoted his later years to art & literature at the Kelmscott Press. He also engaged in typography, manuscript illumination, and calligraphy. "Works of Geoffrey Chauce," featuring in the 1896 Kemlscott edition, is a masterpiece of book design. William Morris passed away on October 03, 1896, at his Kelmscott residence and was interred in the Kelmscott village churchyard.