Event category: Exhibition

This exhibition in the Story Lounge highlights the lives led by the women of William Morris’s social circle alongside portrait photographs of them from our collection. In the nineteenth century individuals might only be photographed a few times in their lives so many photographers specifically designed images to capture the essential character of their sitters.

William Morris’s mother, the stately Emma Morris, is seen leaning on an ornate urn while his industrious sister, Isabella Gilmore, embroiders in her deaconess uniform. Images of Jane Morris, captured as a gentle mother or a languid muse, throw light on the varied aspects of her personality.

However, portrait photographs of women could also shade parts of their lives from view. Simple seated portraits of Rosalind Howard reveal nothing of her radical politics, where a male sitter in her position may have been captured at a writing desk or next to a collection of political books.

Within The Reach of All: The Century Guild is the first exhibition in 20 years to explore the pioneering aesthetics and lasting legacy of this influential association of artists, designers and craftspeople.

The Century Guild was established by the architect and designer Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo (1851 – 1942), who later helped found the William Morris Gallery, and his assistant, Herbert Percy Horne (1864 – 1916), in close collaboration with designer Selwyn Image (1849 – 1930). They aspired to elevate crafts to the status of art, integrate both art and crafts in domestic interiors, and democratise good design. Within The Reach of All: The Century Guild will explore the group’s key figures, along with its influence on Art Nouveau, 20th-century design and modern publishing, through works from the William Morris Gallery, which holds the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of Century Guild works.

The exhibition coincides with the publication of a new book on the subject by Stuart Evans and Jean Liddiard. Arts and Crafts Pioneers: The Hobby Horse Men and their Century Guild is published in the UK by Lund Humphries on 28 January 2021.

Pioneers: William Morris and the Bauhaus is the first exhibition in the UK to fully explore the relationship between the English Arts and Crafts movement and the Bauhaus, the ground-breaking German art school established by Walter Gropius. Timed to coincide with the centenary of the founding of the Bauhaus in 1919, it brings together over 60 objects from nine international and domestic lenders, some of which have never been displayed in the UK before.

The exhibition uses Morris’s key principles of Unity, Craft, Simplicity and Community as a lens to explore the early years of the Bauhaus, from its establishment as a radical new school in the conservative city of Weimar, to its move to a purpose-built campus in Dessau. Along the way, the Bauhauslers embraced a diverse range of ideas and aesthetics as they adopted and adapted the messages of the Arts and Crafts movement in their quest to design a better world. In showing objects made at the Bauhaus alongside Morris’s own pioneering designs, the exhibition invites visitors to explore alternative perspectives on the Bauhaus, as well as see Morris’s legacy in a new light.

Alongside the exhibition is a display of three pieces by acclaimed London-based fashion designer Mary Katrantzou, who is lending garments from her Autumn/Winter 2018 collection, which combines Bauhaus prints with patterns inspired by William Morris. There is also an installation by Bauhaus Artist in Residence, Nicholas Pankhurst.

Pioneers: William Morris and the Bauhaus has been funded through Art Happens, the Art Fund’s crowdfunding platform.

A principal founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, William Morris was responsible for producing hundreds of patterns for wallpapers, furnishing fabrics, carpets and embroideries, helping to introduce a new aesthetic into British interiors. While it has long been acknowledged that Morris was inspired by Islamic art, this is the first exhibition to examine this important aspect of his artistic journey in depth.

Alongside his own iconic designs, outstanding examples of Islamic textiles, ceramics, metalwork and manuscripts from Morris’s personal collection – now belonging to major UK institutions including the British Library, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge – are brought together for the first time to reveal the wider impacts of these objects, their designs and impressions on Morris’s creative output.

The umbrella terms “Islamic world” and “Islamic art” are widely used to facilitate the categorisation of art produced in areas where Islam was the dominant religion or the religion of those who ruled. However, they perpetuate the notion that there is a single identity or uniformity within the vast output of production from across huge geographical regions. These ideas will be explored and discussed further in the exhibition and public programme.

Featuring over 90 works, the exhibition demonstrates how some of Morris’s best-known designs such as Flower Garden (1879), Wild Tulip and Granada (1884) were directly inspired by Islamic surface design and its technical application. This exhibition sets out to enrich our appreciation of Morris’s work and broaden our understanding of the underlying influences of this quintessentially British designer. The exhibition is made possible thanks to funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Garfield Weston Foundation.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a new publication, Tulips and Peacocks: William Morris and Art from the Islamic World (Yale University Press).

William Morris & Art from the Islamic World is curated by Rowan Bain, principal curator of William Morris Gallery, and Qaisra M. Khan, Curator of Islamic Art.

Images:
Peacock, c.1870, Iran, hollow brass with pierced decoration and turquoise. © The Society of Antiquaries of London (Kelmscott Manor)
Wild Tulip, 1884, designed by William Morris for Morris & Co., block-printed wallpaper. © William Morris Gallery

Muslims on Morris

A film commissioned by the Gallery to accompany the exhibition. In this short film we hear from three Muslims creatives who share their experience of William Morris and how they relate to his work and legacy today. Featuring Tayybah Tahir: Trainee Curator, William Morris Gallery, Yasim Hyatt: Traditional Artist, Wallpaper and Fabric Designer, Zarah Hussain: Digital Artist.

Directed by Navid Akhtar. Watch the film

Object Stories: Young people’s 2024 Curatorial Interpretation course

William Morris Gallery, with support from National Heritage Lottery Fund, offered adults aged 18-25 the opportunity to take part in a curatorial interpretation professional development course, inspired by the temporary exhibition that was opening at the Gallery in November 2024, William Morris & Art from the Islamic World.  During the summer of 2024, 20 young people with an interest in this exhibition were recruited for the course to enhance the interpretation of objects and stories in the exhibition. This five-day professional development opportunity was run by Shaheen Kasmani, artist, curator and educator.

You can read Object Stories produced by participants on this dedicated page.

Bayt Al Fann

To celebrate the exhibition William Morris & Art from the Islamic World, William Morris Gallery has collaborated with Bayt Al Fann to present a specially curated, limited-edition digital publication, William Morris & Islamic Art: Women Artists, crafted as a unique dialogue between pioneering women artists whose work is rooted in Islamic art and the legacy of William Morris. You can pick up a copy at the Gallery with a suggested donation of £2 or view it as a digital download. Read more about the project.

Exploring and problematising Morris’s connections with South Asia, this exhibition features new work by former artists in residence Priya Sundram and Nia Thandapani. Sundram and Thandapani have designed a new pattern based on Morris’s designs which is being made by traditional block printers in India and used to create a domestic-style space within the Gallery, where visitors can explore alternative resources around Morris and South Asia in various community languages. The exhibition will also feature interventions throughout the permanent galleries by artists with links to South Asia.

Featuring work by:

Vasundhara Sellamuthu
Shahed Saleem
Shehzil Malik
Studio Carrom
Kangan Arora
Rathna Ramanathan
Sofia Niazi and Aleesha Nandhra
Tiipoi

Image: Felicity Crawshaw

A display of wallpaper patterns designed by young people in the care of Waltham Forest in collaboration with Waltham Forest Virtual School and artist Angela Groundwater. Through workshops at the William Morris Gallery and via Zoom during lockdown, the young people made patterns using drawing and objects that are significant to them, creating designs that commemorate the stories of their lives. The design process was captured in a short film which will be shown in the exhibition.

Sacred Stories is a display celebrating young people’s lives and the unique paths they walk. It is a reminder that their —and our— sacred stories are everywhere.

The Black Artisans is a new photography exhibition by Jo Sealy that showcases Black makers and craftspeople, capturing traditional sectors of UK heritage crafts alongside areas of cultural heritage.

The 27 images feature disciplines that include ceramics, wood, brass instruments, stone, steel pan and calabash to name a few. There is also a series of recorded artisan talks where you can hear how each artisan selected their craft and how their experiences have shaped the type and style of their work. A selection of the featured display pieces will also be available to view throughout the exhibition.

The Black Artisans is funded by a Waltham Forest Council, Make It Happen grant, is supported by the Heritage Crafts Association and furniture maker, eco designer and broadcast presenter Jay Blades MBE.

Image: Jo Sealy

Young Poland: An Arts and Crafts Movement (1890 – 1918) is the first major exhibition to explore the decorative arts and architecture of Young Poland (Młoda Polska), an extraordinary cultural movement that flourished in response to Poland’s invasion and occupation by foreign powers.

Originating in Kraków and the nearby village of Zakopane at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, Young Poland sought inspiration in local folk traditions, wildlife and craftsmanship while collapsing the distinction between the fine and applied arts. Developing themes explored in a critically acclaimed book by its curators (Lund Humphries, 2020), the exhibition is the first in the world to position Young Poland as an Arts & Crafts movement, revealing strong stylistic and philosophical affinities with the work of William Morris and John Ruskin.

From furniture to Christmas decorations, intricate textiles to delicate paper cuttings, this landmark survey spans five galleries and brings together over 150 works, most of which have never travelled outside of Poland. Young Poland: An Arts and Crafts Movement (1890 – 1918) examines the ideas that propelled the movement and introduces the artists, designers and craftspeople whose decorative schemes and objects came to define it.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Józef Czajkowski, Zdzisław Gedliczka, Wojciech Jastrzębowski, Karol Kłosowski, Józefa Kogut, Bonawentura Lenart, Jacek Malczewski, Jan Matejko, Józef Mehoffer, Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Henryk Uziembło, Stanisław Wyspiański and Stanisław Witkiewicz.

Exhibition organised in partnership with the National Museum in Kraków and the Polish Cultural Institute, London. Co-financed by the Polish Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport within the framework of the Inspiring Culture Programme.

Image: Karol Kłosowski, At Bobbin Lacemaking (Legend), undated. Private collection. By descent from the artist

Althea McNish: Colour is Mine is a landmark retrospective of one of the UK’s most innovative textile artists and the first designer of Caribbean descent to achieve international recognition.

Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, McNish (1924-2020) moved to the UK in 1950, completing a postgraduate textiles degree at the Royal College of Art before rising to prominence as a Black female designer. On graduating, McNish began designing bestselling furnishing and fashion fabrics for iconic firms including Liberty, Dior, Heal’s and Hull Traders, for whom she created one of her most famous patterns, Golden Harvest, in 1959. As her career progressed, McNish took on major interior design projects and mural commissions around the world, as well as creating wallpapers for leading companies.

McNish’s painterly designs incorporated natural botanical forms from Britain and the Caribbean, using a riotous colour palette that overturned the staid rules of mid-century British textile design. Her technical mastery gave her the freedom to create ever more complex prints. “Whenever printers told me it couldn’t be done, I would show them how to do it,” she said. “Before long, the impossible became possible.”

Drawing on extensive new research and her personal archive, Colour is Mine explores McNish’s extraordinary career, her transformative impact on mid-century design and her enduring influence today. Althea McNish: Colour is Mine is curated by the William Morris Gallery and Rose Sinclair, Lecturer in Design Education at Goldsmiths, University of London and is part of a three-year research, exhibition and archiving project generously supported by the Society of Antiquaries through its Janet Arnold Textile award.

Althea McNish: Colour is Mine is sponsored by Liberty Fabrics, who will also be reissuing a capsule collection of Althea McNish’s original fabric designs in Spring 2022 to coincide with the exhibition, available to purchase at Liberty in store and online.

Part of the BBC Art That Made Us Festival for Spring 2022.