THE MANY FACES OF WILLIAM MORRIS

Monday 3rd April

THE MANY FACES OF WILLIAM MORRIS

A lecture by : Joanna Banham

William Morris was a man of prodigious energy, talent, and versatility. He was a designer, a craftsman, a writer, a lecturer, a conservationist and a revolutionary socialist. He is best-known today for his wallpapers and textiles but he also designed embroideries, stained glass, mural decoration, books and tapestries. And his firm, Morris & Co., was the foremost decorating company of his day. His over-arching passions were a love of art and making, and a hatred for what he perceived as the greed and inequality that characterised contemporary society. This lecture reviews Morris’s life, ideas and achievements, exploring not only the highlights of his career but also his relationships with his wife Jane, and other artists and designers with whom he worked, and the reasons why he is still so important and influential today.