William Morris facts for kids

William Morris
Quick facts for kids William Morris
	William Morris by George Frederic Watts, 1870
Born	24 March 1834
Died	3 October 1896 (aged 62)
Nationality	English
Occupation	Artist; Writer
Known for	Arts and Crafts movement; British Socialism

William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English architect, furniture and fabric designer, artist, writer, and socialist. He was born in Walthamstow in East London.

Morris was educated at Marlborough and Exeter College, Oxford. In 1856, he became an apprentice to Gothic revival architect G. E. Street. That year he founded the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine. In 1861, Morris founded a design firm in partnership with the artist Edward Burne-Jones, and the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This had a great impact on the decoration of churches and houses in the early 20th century. Morris's major contribution was as a designer of repeating patterns for wallpapers and textiles. This was mainly based on a close observation of nature. He was also a major contributor to the resurgence of traditional textile arts and methods of production.

Morris wrote and published poetry, fiction, and translations of ancient and medieval texts throughout his life, among others Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs (1876). His best-known works include The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems (1858), The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), A Dream of John Ball (1888) and the utopia News form Nowhere (1890). His poetry was strongly influenced by Geoffrey Chaucer's work. This influence can be seen in the use of rhyme royal.

The Kelmscott Chaucer

William Morris designed his own furniture. He was frustrated, because he could not find any furniture he liked, so he decided, he wanted to design his own furniture, but it was mostly wallpaper designs.

Morris was an important person in the emergence of socialism in Great Britain. He founded the Socialist League in 1884. However, he broke with the movement over goals and methods by the end of that decade. He devoted much of the rest of his life to the Kelmscott Press, which he founded in 1891. The 1896 Kelmscott edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is considered a masterpiece of book design.

Images for kids

Water House, Morris' childhood home; renovated in 2012, it now houses The William Morris Gallery
William Morris self-portrait, 1856; Morris grew his beard that year, after leaving university.
Morris's 1858 painting La belle Iseult, also inaccurately called Queen Guinevere, is his only surviving easel painting, now in the Tate Gallery. The model is Jane Burden, who married Morris in 1859.
Red House in Bexleyheath; it is now owned by The National Trust and open to visitors
Design for Trellis wallpaper, 1862

Portrait of William Morris by George Frederic Watts, 1870.

A caricature sketch of Morris by Rossetti, The Bard and Petty Tradesman, reflecting his behaviour at the Firm
Main Entrance to Kelmscott Manor
Portrait of William Morris by William Blake Richmond
The Pond at Merton Abbey by Lexden Lewis Pocock is an idyllic representation of the works in the time of Morris
David's Charge to Solomon (1882), a stained-glass window by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris in Trinity Church, Boston, Massachusetts.
Morris (right) with Burne-Jones, 1890
Morris' design for the Kelmscott Press' trademark
The Salutation of Beatrice, Jane Morris portrayed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as Dante Alighieri's muse, Beatrice, 1869
A Wooden Pattern for Textile Printing from William Morris's Company
Morris family tombstone at Kelmscott, designed by Webb
The blue plaque erected outside the Red House
Morris's essay "Printing" as reprinted by the Village Press in Chicago run by Will Ransom and Frederic Goudy, c. 1903
Design for Windrush printed textile, 1881–1883
The Vision of the Holy Grail tapestry, 1890
Acanthus embroidered panel, designed Morris, 1890
Strawberry Thief, furnishing fabric, designed Morris, 1883
Wallpaper – Hyacinth, pattern #480 – 1915–1917
Wallpaper – Blackberry, pattern #388 – 1915–1917
Detail of a watercolour design for the Little Flower carpet showing a portion of the central medallion, by William Morris
Panel of ceramic tiles designed by Morris and produced by William De Morgan, 1876
Morris Strawberry Thief 1883 detail
Kelmscott Press typefaces and colophon, 1897
William Morris, publisher