Fiell:Morris

William Morris (1834-1896) was one of the greatest creative minds of the 19th century. As a designer, craftsman, writer, artist, and social reformer, he was a pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement of the Victorian era. Morris despised the Industrial Age with its cheap, loveless, mass-produced trinkets, which he viewed not only as an aesthetic problem but also as a moral issue of societal structure. He believed it was a fundamental need to be surrounded by beautiful things and dreamed of a better society where everyone has access to art and education, where women and men can realize their creativity equally in their work, and where the boundaries between art, craft, and life are dissolved. Fascinated by the Middle Ages and closely connected to the Pre-Raphaelites, he succeeded in making craftsmanship and traditional motifs and ideas fruitful for the present. The enthusiasm of the aristocracy and the upper middle class for his patterns and decorations, his furniture, carvings, wallpapers, and fabrics may have saddened the "sentimental socialist" (Friedrich Engels), but it does not diminish his merit and visionary power. Even today, traces of Morris and his collaborators can be found in architecture, textile art, and interior design. For instance, his wallpaper designs are still produced, and his floral patterns adorn current fashion collections, curtain fabrics, handbags, mugs, notebooks, and countless other items.

This richly illustrated book describes an extraordinarily multifaceted life and introduces a creative oeuvre that knew no boundaries, ranging from architecture to furniture design to calligraphy.