William Morris Designs by William Morris

William Morris Designs by William Morris

Defining beauty in art as the result of man's pleasure in his work, the noted English poet, designer, craftsman and pioneer Socialist William Morris (1834-1896) spent most of his life enthusiastically expounding this view through his many attractive designs for interior furnishings.
The present book faithfully reproduces 40 of the most celebrated examples of Morris's work, reprinting in full color all the color plates from The Art of William Morris, published by George Bell & Sons in 1897. Included in this splendid, ready-to-use archive are richly detailed wallpaper designs incorporating marigold, vine, acanthus, apple, wild tulip, daisy and trellis motifs; hand-painted tiles with a rose pattern; chintzes displaying honeysuckle and bird and anemone designs; an acanthus design on printed velveteen; a superb peacock and dragon design on woven wool tapestry; a magnificent Kidderminster carpet with its lily motif.
Originally intended to decorate Victorian homes, these tasteful patterns provide a wealth of source material for modern artists working in advertising, textile, residential or industrial design. Commercial artists and graphic designers will welcome this modestly priced collection of copyright-free designs by one of the most influential artists of the Victorian period.

William Morris (1834-1896) was an accomplished writer, textile designer and artist. A utopian socialist, he was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Craft Movement, and was a founding member of the Socialist League in Britain. Greatly influenced by the medieval period, Morris helped establish the modern fantasy genre though his works The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems, A Dream of John Ball, and The Well at the World's End. Authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were greatly influenced by works like The House of the Wolfings, The Roots of the Mountains, and The Wood Beyond the World. Morris was also an accomplished publisher, founding the Kelmscott Press in 1891, whose 1896 edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is considered a masterpiece of book design.