Wallpapers by William Morris


Cranbrook Sightings BlogInside the Vault

CRANBROOK SIGHTINGS: INSIDE THE VAULT William Morris A Collection of Seventy-Two Wallpaper Samples Designed 1864–1890, printed 1932, or earlier Printer: A. Sanderson and Sons, Ltd., London, England Hand-printed wood block prints in distemper colors on wove paper Gift of Mrs. William H. Hansen CAM 1991.17 You may remember this past spring when my colleague, Shoshana Resnikoff, wrote a blog post about May Morris's Bed Hangings in celebration of her birthday. Well today on the blog we take a look at her father, William Morris (1834–1896), designer, poet, novelist, socialist, translator of Icelandic sagas(!), and all-around creative visionary who shaped the Arts and Crafts movement in England and its many iterations throughout Europe and the United States.Pimpernel, designed 1876; Lily and Pomegranate, designed 1886.Morris despised the cheap, mass-manufactured goods and deteriorating social and labor conditions that characterized England after the Industrial Revolution, and reverted back to medieval visual language and production techniques in his art and design work as ...

Tagged: Arts and Crafts Movement, Shelley Selim, Wallpaper, William Morris

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Happy Birthday, May Morris!


Cranbrook Sightings BlogInside the Vault

CRANBROOK SIGHTINGS: INSIDE THE VAULT May Morris Bed-Hangings (Two Curtains) 1916, or earlier Embroidered wool on linen Each panel: 76 ¾ x 27 inches Gift of George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps BoothMay Morris, Bed Hangings, c. 1916. Photo courtesy Cranbrook Art Museum.On the 152nd anniversary of her birth all of us at Cranbrook Art Museum are excited to wish artist and designer May Morris a very happy birthday! Born March 25, 1862 in Bexley Heath, England, May Morris grew up in an artistic community fueled by the beliefs of her father William Morris, a founder of the British Arts and Crafts Movement. Intellectually committed to her father’s movement, she learned needlecraft at the feet of her mother Jane, a Pre-Raphaelite model and muse for Morris and others. As an adult, May Morris advocated both for her father’s artistic movement and for women’s involvement in art through needlework. She traveled the United States for five months between ...

Tagged: Arts and Crafts Movement, Cranbrook House, May Morris, Shoshana Resnikoff, Textiles

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Happy Birthday Albert Herter!


Cranbrook Sightings BlogInside the Vault

CRANBROOK SIGHTINGS: CRANBROOK HOUSE Albert Herter The Great Crusade 1920 Cotton, wool, and silk tapestry Manufactured by the Herter Looms, Inc., New York, New York 156 x 120 inches Gift of George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth A day late but with no less affection, we here at the Cranbrook Art Museum wish a very happy birthday to Albert Herter, born on March 2, 1871. The son of Christian Herter, one half of New York's famed Herter Brothers design and decorating firm, Albert went on to become a successful artist and decorator in his own right. Over his lengthy career he painted portraits of the Bouviers, executed many private and civic murals in the United States and Europe, opened and decorated an exclusive Montecito hotel for America's elite, and in 1908 founded the Herter Looms weaving company. Although Herter Looms manufactured a variety of textiles for home furnishings, it is perhaps best known for its output of revivalist ...

Tagged: Albert Herter, Arts and Crafts Movement, Cranbrook House, Gerhardt Knodel, Shelley Selim, Textiles

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