William Morris Research Paper Essay Example for Free

William Morris Research Paper EssayWilliam Morris was a poet, artist, manufacturer, and socialist during the middle to late 19th century. He was most active as a paper and textile room decorator and ulterior in his life a graphic projecter. Morris was born March of 1834 in Walthamstow, which was near to capital of the United Kingdom. He lived with his wealthy family near London and learned to read at a young age. He later attended Oxford where he met is friend, Edward Burne-J ones, who would later become one of the greatest Pre-Raphaelite artists. Morris started at Oxford thinking of turn a clergyman, but soon joined an aesthetic circle. Morris had a great interest in gallant art and architecture, because it was art that was made by people and for people with great science and craft alternatively of art that was made by mass production. After graduating and inheriting his fathers money, Morris started working as an architect. After a few years, Edward Burne-Jones influence d him to become an artist sort of. Morris started as a poet and painter, but later in his life became more interested in politics, tapestries, graphic aim, and textile designs.The Arts and Crafts movement evolved as a revolt against the new age of mechanization, a Romantic effort on part of Morris and others to implement the school of thought of the influential critic John Ru flake, who stated that trustworthy art should be both beautiful and expedient and should base its forms on those found in reputation. Morris and others fought to return to the simplicity, beauty, and craftsmanship that were being destroyed by the influence of mass production. He too became more active as a socialist, and had many writings and leadership roles involving this. La Belle Iseult was the only cognise and finished easel video made by Morris. It was made in 1858 and shows his model, Jane Burden, who became his wife in 1859. Jane is modeling as Iseult standing in front of an unmade bed in a chivalrous room. The painting shows many rich shows, and there is great emphasis on the specimens throughout the painting. These patterns brook be seen in many of Morriss work in his tapestries.Throughout the painting Morris uses textures and patterns to make the lay out feel more realistic. In the foreground he places Iseult who is standing and looking towards the left. She is not addressing the viewer and looks as though she has recently arisen from bed. In the middle ground he places an unmade bed with a leaper snuggledin. In the background there is a woman musician playing for Iseult. Morris paints Iseult with illuminating skin and keeps her the main focus with her light white and pink patterned dress. There are many curtains draping from the ceiling echoing the tricks in her dress. The room is full of things placing it in medieval times. This painting of Iseult is showing her wo oer her lover, Tristram, who was exiled from the court of King Mark. She was locked in the tower after attempting to kill herself.Now she has been sick close to to the point of death mourning for her lover, and this is also shown in the mood of the painting. She stands wistfully in her small chamber, her feelings for Tristram reinforce by the springs of rosemary, symbolizing remembrance, in her crown, and the word DOLOURS (grief) written down the side of her mirror. The greyhound also proves the subject to be Iseult, because it is said Tristram gave her the dog and it is now apply as her identifying emblem. There has been confusion on the name of this piece, and it has also been called Queen Guenevere. This is most likely because Morris wrote a poem called The Defence of Guenevere in the same year the painting was made, which is addressing the same character in the painting. Morris struggled for months on this picture and spent more time on ornamentation and woodcarving.Many of the furnishings in the picture, such as the Turkish rug, the Persian embroidered cover, and the white work hangings are godlike by his actual collection. Strawberry Thief is a printed cotton furnishing textile that was made to be employ as curtains or draperies for a wall. It could induct also been utilise as loose covers on furniture. This pattern is based on the thrushes that Morris would often see stealing his strawberries beside his home in the kitchen garden. This is one of his best known designs and is very colorful with the deep indigo savory he used. The pattern was printed by the indigo poke method, an ancient technique used for many centuries mostly in the East. Morris liked the depth of the color and uncloudedness in the detail. In May 1883 Morris wrote to his daughter, I was a great deal at Merton last hebdomad anxiously superintending the first effect of the Strawberry thief, which I think we shall manage this time.Morris was very pleased with his design and even got it patented. It was the first pattern using this old technique where red and yellow were added to the basic blue and white ground. The entire process was painstakingly long to make and it used very expensive cotton. blush though it was sold at a high price, the textile was one of the most commercially palmy patterns for Morris and one of the clients favorites. Morris was primarily active as a wallpaper and textile designer. The charge topic was a favorite in his work. He would often make his designs simple and stylized and enliven by traditional folk art. Morriss emphasis on the importance of skill and craft and qualification art for the people contradicted his expensive textiles that only the wealthy could afford. Morris worked to restore the art of fine fabric printing and often experimented and researched different methods in making fabrics. Strawberry Thief is a colorful design where Morris used an indigo discharge technique to create it.Morris found that in order to produce a true indigo blue the fabric could not be block printed because the indigo dye ox idizes, changing the color as the fabric dries. Morris reused an early(a) technique of vat-dyeing the entire yardage in indigo. Then, by using either a resist process or through bleach printing, areas of the fabric could be opened (the indigo color removed) and redyed the desired color. Morris would also study old dye recipes, and would wash his fabric in the nearby river and teetotal it on the grass to allow the sun to bleach outside(a) the residual color. He would use positive materials for his primary colors, and would blend dyes and change the strength of dye solution to get the secondary colors. Morriss early works and patterns were simpler and were made from a contemporary style with more obvious repetition. His later patterns and designs became more interlacing with more depth. Morris believed that a pattern should not be at once entirely self-revealing and should hold most mystery for the viewer, being sufficiently complex to maintain his attention.Daisy Wallpaper was made in 1862 and was return-printed for the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner Co. It is a design showing a variety of plants. The colors of plants included are white, red and yellow flowers dictated on a pale background with green flecks which represent grass. The flat simple frontal motif was adapted from a tapestry shown in an illuminated manuscript at the British Museum Block-printed in malady colours, on paper The second paper William Morris designed, but the first to be issued (1864). This wallpaper is another one of Morriss flower motifs and is simple and stylized. This was also inspired by traditional folk art. This wallpaper was hand printed which made it very expensive. This was the first pattern that Morrisissued, which took place in the year of 1864. It is a simple design of meadow flowers, and these forms are very similar to those seen in the late medieval tapestries. This wallpaper has a medieval character that connects Morriss early work with the Pre-Raphaelite p ainters. Morris also had an interest in making nature into ornament which also helped influence this design.Morris said any decoration is futile when it does not remind you of something beyond itself. William often observed the plants in his garden and studied them which then they would often end up in many of his works. Morris did not intend for his designs and flowers to be taken as literal transcriptions of natural forms, but instead they were supposed to be seen as stylized re-creations. Morris designed over 50 wallpapers, and advised that the choice of wallpaper for the home must take into account the function of the room. Morris still preferred woven textile hangings over wallpaper, and thought of wallpaper as a makeshift decoration. Though naturalistic, they were not of the over-blown chintzy floral style generally described as French, then popular with aristocratic and wealthy customers. On the other hand, though many were flat and to a degree stylized, often drawing on med ieval sources for their motifs and character, they did not have the severity and the moral overtones of reformed design.During the late 1890s, Morriss wallpapers could be commonly seen in many fastidious middle-class homes. He had great success in creating structured patterns from natural forms, with a sense of innate growth controlled by a subtle geometry, was his most important design legacy. He also influenced the skill of making flat and complex patterns, patterns that were stylized organic forms and motifs of nature. He even changed the way the middle-class adorned their homes. Throughout Morriss career as a designer he worked to bring people away from the commercialization of the Industrial Revolution and he pushed people to come back and reawaken to the romantic ideas of handiwork medieval design.He would often find his inspiration in nature and today many of his designs washbasin be found on tapestries, textiles, wallpaper, stained glass, carpets, and more. He was one of the more influential voices in niminy-piminy art and architecture of the time. Although Morris did so many different kinds of art, there are a few rhetorical elements and ideas that he incorporated throughout his work. Morris really emphasized quality in his work, not only in the quality of theactual design itself, but also in the quality of life. He believed that the two were entwined in a way and he would encourage people around him to make things for themselves. He also used a historic style which played into all of his work.BibliographyArnason, H. H. History of modernistic Art Painting work Architecture Photography. New Jersey Prentice Hall, 2003. Print Chu, Petra ten-Doesschate. Nineteenth-Century European Art. London Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2012. Print. Cody, David. William Morris A Brief Biography. The Victorian Web. N.p., 17 Oct. 2012. Web. Nov. 2012. http//www.victorianweb.org/authors/morris/wmbio.html. Fowle, Frances. La Belle Iseult. TATE. N.p., Dec. 2000. Web. Nov. 2012. http//www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/morris-la-belle-iseult-n04999/text-summary. Mackail, John WIlliam. William Morris. The Dictionary of National Biography. Supp. vol. 3. London Smith, sr. and Co., 1901. 197203. Print. Marsh, Jan. William Morriss Painting and Drawing. JSTOR. The Burlington mag Publications Ltd., 1986. Web. Nov. 2012. http//www.jstor.org/ enduring/882655. Oman, Charles C., and Hamilton, Jean. Wallpapers a history and illustrated catalogue of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London Sotheby Publications, in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982. Strawberry Thief. Search the Collections. V A Collections, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. http//collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78889/strawberry-thief-furnishing-fabric-morris-william/. Whipple, David. Textile Designs and Books by William Morris. JSTOR. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Web. Nov. 2012. http//www.jstor.org/stable/25159593. William Morris Wallpaper Design. Victoria and Albert Mus eum. Victoria and Albert Museum, 2012. Web. Nov. 2012. http//www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/w/william-morris-and-wallpaper- design/.Images of the WorksTitle La Belle Iseult visit 1858 Medium Oil Paint on Canvas Size Support 718 x 502 mm, Frame 960 x755 x 61 mm tooth root Tate Britain (http//www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/morris-la-belle-iseult-n04999) Title Strawberry Thief witness 1883 Medium Furnishing stuff/Textile Size 60.5 x 95.2 cm Source Victoria and Albert Museum (http//collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78889/strawberry-thief-furnishing-fabric-morris-william/)Title Daisy Wallpaper Date 1864 Medium block-printed in distemper colors, on paper Size Height 687 mm, Width 544 mm Source Victoria Albert Museum (http//thetextileblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/william-morris-and-daisy-wallpaper.html) 1 . Mackail, John WIlliam. William Morris. The Dictionary of National Biography. Supp. vol. 3. London Smith, Elder and Co., 1901. 197203. 2 . Chu, Petra ten-Doesschate. Nineteenth-Century Europea n Art. London Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2012. 3 . Cody, David. William Morris A Brief Biography. The Victorian Web. N.p., 17 Oct. 2012. Web. Nov. 2012. . 4 . Arnason, H. H. History of Modern Art Painting Sculpture Architecture Photography. New Jersey Prentice Hall, 2003. 5 . Marsh, Jan. William Morriss Painting and Drawing. JSTOR. The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd., 1986. Web. Nov. 2012. . 6 . Fowle, Frances. La Belle Iseult. TATE. N.p., Dec. 2000. Web. Nov. 2012. . 7 . Fowle, Fances. La Belle Iseult. 8 . Marsh, Jan. William Morriss Painting and Drawing. 9 . Fowle, Fances. La Belle Iseult. 10 . Strawberry Thief. Search the Collections. V A Collections, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. 11 . Strawberry Thief. Search the Collections. V A Collections. 12 . Strawberry Thief. Search the Collections. V A Collections. 13 . Chu, Petra ten-Doesschate. Nineteenth-Century European