William Morris Tapestries

The William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, London, is the only public museum in the world that is devoted to Englands most versatile and best known designer, William Morris.

William Morris - writer, socialist, craftsman and designer - was born on the 24th of March 1824 in Walthamstow, London.

Morris enjoyed a priviledged upbringing and spent much of his childhood in the forests around his home. It was here that he developed the love of nature that was to be evident many years later in the designs that he produced.

Discovering art to be his natural gift, he embraced it fully, writing poetry and printing and learning how to weave and dye and work a loom. It was the latter pursuit that would come to demonstrate Morris’s talent at it’s most impressive. His spectacular tapestries became his most famous creations.

William Morris developed an array of skills. He learned to embroider by unpicking antique pieces to learn the stitches; he set up a loom in his house and taught himself to weave with only an 18th century French manual for guidance. Within a matter of months he had completed his first tapestry design. Acanthus and Vine was designed and woven by Morris in 1879.

One of the most popular religious tapestries Morris & Co created was ‘The Adoration of Magi’ it was first produced in 1890. As well as being Morris’s most ecclesiastical it was also the most complex. At least ten similar versions of the tapestry were woven between 1890-1907. Originally designed by Burne-Jones the tapestry depicts the Nativity scene.

Most of William Morris's tapestry designs were the result of collaborations between Edward Burne-Jones, John Henry Deale and William Morris himself. But that is not to say that all designs were collaborations, indeed, one of Morris's most famous designs is 'The Woodpecker'. This intricately designed tapestry is typical of Morris in that he uses the ornate leafy background of leaves, reminiscent of Mille Fleurs. The Woodpecker features a woodpecker perched on the branch of a fruit tree. The verse that runs across the top of the tapestry reads:

I once a King and chief • Now am the tree-bark’s thief • Ever ‘twixt trunk and leaf • Chasing the prey.

The Woodpecker tapestry is currently on display in the William Morris Gallery in London.

One of the most intricate and beautiful creations from the company, known as “the Firm”, is the Tree of Life tapestry. Designed by Morris it demonstrates his talent with patterns and his awareness and appreciation of the use of colour. Symbolising growth and continuous life, the Tree of Life wall hanging is still one Morris’s most recognised works.
Tapestries

Other famous works include Pomona (1884), Design for Flora (1885), and The Orchard (1890).

William Morris Tapestries are as much in demand today as they were over a century ago.