Thames & Hudson
Editor: Anna Mason (William Morris Gallery)
From the publisher:
“The versatility of William Morris (1834-1896) is legendary,” writes curator and editor Anna Mason in the Introduction to William Morris, a fully illustrated study about the designer and his far-reaching legacy, published in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum to mark the 125th anniversary of his death. “Known to his contemporaries as a designer, craftsman, decorator and successful man of business, he was also a best-selling poet and storyteller. The most high-profile artist to embrace socialism, through his campaigning activities, journalism, and creative writing, he offered both a devastating critique of the inequalities of Victorian society and a positive and hopeful vision of what a fairer, and greener, future might look like.”
First published in 1996, the original edition of this book accompanied the Victoria and Albert Museum’s landmark exhibition, William Morris 1834-1896, the most comprehensive and ambitious exhibition ever mounted on the designer’s life and work. Revised, updated, and substantially expanded, this lavish volume explores the balance between Morris’s various spheres of activity, placing his art in the context of its time and examining his legacy. It includes contributions from a wide range of experts, with chapters on painting, church decoration and stained glass, interior decoration, furniture, tiles and tableware, wallpaper, textiles, calligraphy, and publishing. Additional materials include a contextualized chronology of Morris’s life and a list of public collections around the world where examples of his work may be seen today.
The volume includes contributions from leading scholars of Morris and of the history of design. Some are new to this edition, and others have been revised and expanded since the 1996 edition.
Contributors: Frances Collard, John Dreyfus, Peter Faulkner, Julia Griffin, Martin Harrison, Charles Harvey, Lesley Hoskins, Tristram Hunt, Karen Livingstone, Fiona MacCarthy, Chris Miele, John Nash, Jennifer Hawkins Opie, Linda Parry, Jon Press, and Nicholas Salmon.