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| Decorating Centre Online- Acanthus wallpaper, designed by William Morris, manufactured by Jeffrey & Co., 1875, England. Museum no. E.800-1915. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
It has been argued that wallpaper has
become an increasingly popular form of wall decoration over the years.
However,
it all began with a revolutionary designer who was renown for being not only a British
textile designer, but also a poet, novelist, translator as well as a social activist
too.
He is an artist who is very much
associated with the Arts and Crafts movement which helped developed a new rejuvenation
of the traditional British textile arts method of production.
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| Decorating Centre Online- Sunflower wallpaper, designed by William Morris, manufactured and printed by Jeffrey & Co., 1879, England. Museum no. E.513-1919. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
What is the 19th Century Arts and Crafts Movement?
The Arts and Crafts movement is defined as artistic control over industry-created
production.
The Arts and Crafts Movement was a
reaction against machine-dominated industry which dehumanised individuals, as
well as prioritising lesser products which do not have the integrity of hand-made
products.
Coming from a set of ideals more so than
a prescriptive style, the Arts and Crafts Movement was founded in 1887, taking
its name from the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society.
Recognised in approximately 1840, British
people started to understand the damaging effects of machine-dominated social
conditions as well as the quality of manufactured goods and products.
Therefore, the Arts and Crafts movement was developed in order to champion and
correct the ‘problem’ of machine-dominated industry.
This means that the Arts and Crafts
movement championed an increasing demand for humane ways of production and the
need to adopt a better way in which to produce these products.
This also involved creating products
which have more integrity, and less demand for these industry-manufactured
products.
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| Decorating Centre Online- Trellis wallpaper, designed by William Morris and Phillip Webb, printed by Jeffrey & Co., 1862, England. Museum no. E.452-1919. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
Who is William Morris?
William Morris is known for his elaborate,
and wonderfully crafted textile prints. He is a very significant cultural
figure in Victorian Britain. Although during his lifetime he was known for his
poetry, his textile designs became such an important part of his legacy after
his death in 1896.
Morris became such a significant figure
that in 1955, the ‘William Morris Society’ was created which was a society which
was devoted to the Morris legacy.
Throughout his entire lifetime, Morris
produced many works including a range of crafts as well as over 600 different
designs for wallpapers, textiles and embroideries.
Morris also created over 150
stained glass windows, three typefaces, approximately 650 borders and
ornamentation amongst his poetry, novels and other literary contributions too.
Morris advocated the Arts and Crafts
Movement- as detailed above- in which the idea that design and production of
products should be created by designer-craftsmen who both design and
manufacturer their goods, rather than industry and machinery-dominated industry.
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| Decorating Centre Online- Fruit wallpaper, William Morris, 1865 – 66, England. Museum no. E.2210-1913. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
Mackail suggests that Morris was very much part of
the manufacturing industry as he became:
"a manufacturer not because he
wished to make money, but because he wished to make the things he manufactured”
- -Mackail,
J. W. (1901). The Life of William Morris Vol. 1 (new ed.).
London, New York, and Bombay: Longmans, Green & Co.
He revived several techniques, insisting
on using good quality raw materials as well as using natural dyes and hand
processing too.
William Morris’s work is very focused upon
botanical works, as he is known to have observed the natural world around him
as the very basis for his designs, from his wallpaper designs to his other
craft prints too.
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| Decorating Centre Online- Wallpaper design, Augustus Pugin, 1851, England. Museum no. D.699-1908. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
Why were and are William Morris’s designs so popular?
William Morris was a key figure in
creating the beautifully crafted and intricate botanical designs which Morris
is known for.
In the past, Morris’s designs were
fashionable among the middle-classes as a result of the wide variety of
different items which ‘Morris & Co.’ produced.
However, Fiona MacCarthy
also argues that Morris’s designs were popular as they were considered:
"the
safe choice of the intellectual classes, an exercise in political
correctitude."
-
MacCarthy, Fiona
(1994). William Morris: A Life for Our Time London: Faber and Faber
It can also
be argued that Morris’s designs were- and are- so popular as a result of their
intricate, and brilliantly designed botanical patterns.
Designed much like a woven trellis of flowers,
leaves and vines winding up a wall, Morris’s wallpaper designs have heavily
influenced today’s wallpaper market, adding so much craftsmanship and beauty
into this industry.
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| Decorating Centre Online- Larkspur wallpaper, designed by William Morris, manufactured by Jeffrey & Co., 1874, England. Museum no. E.468-1919. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
How did William Morris design his Wallpapers?
To begin to answer
this question, you must first understand why William Morris began his design
journey and how he was influenced by design too.
William Morris always
advocated the development of pattern and technique, suggesting that:
“a pattern is either
right or wrong. It cannot be forgiven for blundering, as a picture may be which
has otherwise great qualities in it. It is with a pattern as with a fortress,
it is no stronger than its weakest point.”
- William Morris
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| Decorating Centre Online- Wreath wallpaper, designed by William Morris, manufactured by Jeffrey & Co., 1876, England. Museum no. E.501-1919. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
It is as a result of this that William
Morris’s wallpaper designs rely so heavily on intricate, as well as
well-crafted designs which can be duplicated wonderfully.
The naturalistic style of his work
is always inspired by the world around him in which he relied on his very close
observations of nature to flatter and develop his patterns.
It is as a result of this that Morris’s
designs were stylised versions of nature, not only in order to print the
patterns required for his wallpapers, but also to create a distinct style too.
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| Decorating Centre Online- St James's wallpaper, designed by William Morris, manufactured by Jeffrey & Co., 1881, England. Museum no. E.528-1919. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
How did William Morris develop his Wallpaper designs?
With the increasing popularity of
the wallpaper industry throughout the Victorian period as a direct result of the
increasing size of the middle-classes.
It is as a result of this that
mass-produced wallpapers became a popular wall covering, in comparison to
textile-based wall-coverings which required craftsmanship and humane means of
production too.
William Morris therefore began
focusing on wallpaper and the production of patterns which would not only be
popular and beautifully crafted, but also that would be a direct antithesis to
the manufactured and mass-produced wallpapers of other popular companies.
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| Decorating Centre Online- Wallpaper, designed by William Morris, manufactured by Jeffrey & Co., 1896, England. Museum no. CIRC.290-1959. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
Morris created his first wallpaper
design, ‘Trellis’ in 1862 which was developed and then printed by using
hand-cut woodblocks which were then loaded with mineral-based dyes and printed
onto large pieces of wallpaper.
Although initially Morris’s
wallpaper designs were not as popular as some others of the period, he
developed his style to incorporate a super-naturalistic ‘French’ style which
encompassed beautifully intricate designs.
However, Morris continued to focus
on his natural and botanical works, centring his designs on the natural world
around him as well as simple forms. Combining this ‘simple form’ with an
intricate composition, Morris’s designs grew in popularity as a result of their
radically different subject matter and design.
It was argued that Morris’s
designs were more ‘honest’ than that of other wallpaper designs being printed
at the time. This is because they focused on the subject matters found in the British
landscape, rather than from exotic colonial islands and landscapes.
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| Decorating Centre Online- Balmoral wallpaper, designed by William Morris, printed by Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd., 1887, England. Museum no. E.528-1919. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
How was Morris influential in developing the popularity of the
Wallpaper industry?
The stylised works of Morris were
perfectly designed for walls as a result of their ‘flat’ style and worked
significantly better on this platform than many other illusion wallpaper
designs at the time.
It is therefore argued that as a
result of Morris’s increasing popularity in the wallpaper industry that these
intricate and elaborate designs started to infiltrate other wallpaper
manufacturers, becoming one of the most popular wall coverings available at the
time.
This means that- specifically towards
the end of the 19th century- although Morris’ prints were more
expensive than other industry-manufactured wallpapers, he influenced the
creation of other wallpapers with a stylised and ‘flat-looking’ design.
Even after the end of the 19th
century. Morris’s wallpaper designs were still resonating throughout the
wallpaper industry, with his organic and botanical geometric designs infiltrating
other types of wallpaper designs throughout Britain.
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| Decorating Centre Online- Pink and Rose wallpaper, designed by William Morris, manufactured by Jeffrey & Co., about 1890, England. Museum no. E.708-1915. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
How did William Morris create his block-printed designs?
As a rejection of inhumane and ‘thoughtless’
mass produced wallpaper designs, William Morris created his wallpaper designs
by using a technique called ‘block printing’.
It is a process that can take up to 4 weeks, as well as using
30 different blocks and up to 15 separate colours.
The way in which William Morris
created his wonderfully elaborate wallpaper designs is shown by the video
below:
How has William Morris’s natural
Wallpaper designs influenced today’s Wallpaper designs?
Even
today Morris’s wallpapers are still being printed by wallpaper manufacturers as
a result of his popularity and influences not only before his death, but also
after his death too.
William
Morris’s wallpaper designs have not only inspired other wallpaper designers,
but they have also influenced a vast array of artists too.
Not only
are William Morris’s wallpaper designs still in print- as the copyright laws
surrounding his work dissolved- but they have also influenced the way in which
botanical wallpapers are designed too.
Below
are just some of our own wallpapers in which you can see the- perhaps conscious
or unconscious- influences of William Blake’s natural wallpaper designs:
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| Decorating Centre Online- Protea Botanical Flower Wallpaper Grey £12.99 |
Our Protea Botanical Wallpaper is imbibed with influences from Morris's renown wallpapers. With beautifully stylised watercolour-style flowers and leaves which wind up the wallpaper in a very natural and authentic way. With a beautiful suede texture style background and in a muted matt finish, this stylish wallpaper really does emulate the composition of Morris's previous wallpaper designs.
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| Decorating Centre Online- Harlen Woodlands Wallpaper Dark Green £9.99 |
Our Harlen Woodlands Wallpaper in Dark Green is also an obvious choice regarding the influence which Morris had on the design of wallpapers. A gorgeously intricate design, this green woodland print beautifully depicts a wide array of exquisite wildflowers and delightful depictions of various traditionally British Countryside creatures. Much like Morris's own depictions of traditionally British creatures and plants, this stylised wallpaper is gracefully rendered in a hand printed vintage style and embodies the splendid beauty of the English Countryside and all of its natural allure.
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| Decorating Centre Online- Entwine Trailing Leaf Wallpaper Navy £14.99 |
This particular wallpaper is certainly the result of Morris's huge influence on the wallpaper industry. With its stylised depiction of a trailing leaf design featuring fern leaves on a textured background and overlaid with a stunning metallic finish, this wallpaper is certainly one that is obviously inspired by the influences of Morris throughout the 19th, 20th and now the 21st Century.
For more information regarding William Morris and his influence on the wallpaper industry, as well as literature and design, check out the V&A website!
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