William Morris

character life

William Morris was born on March 24, 1834, in a wealthy middle-class family in Walthamstow, England. His father was a successful stockbroker. Morris entered Marlborough College at the age of 14 and was deeply influenced by the Oxford Movement. In 1853 he entered Exeter College at Oxford University to study theology as a priest. While in college, he met Edward Bourne Jones, who was now a priest. The two became lifelong friends and later joined the Pre-Raphael faction.

His career in Oxford gave Morris a strong interest in art and literature, especially in all art, design and architecture of the Middle Ages. At the age of 22, he inherited an annuity, which enabled him and Bourne-Jones to hike in northern France and visit the Gothic Cathedral.

After returning to the UK, Morris and Bourne-Jones participated in the Gothic Renaissance construction project on George Edmund Street. During this period, they met Philip Weber, and the three of them became friends and founded the Arts and Crafts Movement together. Morris first devoted himself to art, but soon turned to interior design.

In 1857, introduced by Bourne Jones, Morris went to visit Dante Gabriel Rossetti, but the pre-Raphaelite godfather ridiculed Morris's art. Fortunately, she met Rossetti's model Jane Burden. She was a working-class but frail, pale skin and long thick dark brown hair. She was regarded by pre-Raphaelite socialists as the embodiment of beauty. After many twists and turns, the two married in 1859 and moved into the Red House designed by Philip Weber. This new home allows Morris and his friends to show their skills. They design and manufacture all household utensils and furnishings one by one in medieval style. The etched glass windows, murals, and tapestries are all modeled after ancient churches. When the Red House was completed in 1861, Morris decided to form a partnership company MMF to develop his private interests into business.

With in-depth research into medieval art and design and inspired by the teachings of John Ruskin, Morris preached the natural aesthetic role of the craftsman's subjective initiative. He was determined to revitalize a handicraft tradition that he believed had been almost destroyed by the Industrial Revolution, and vigorously advocated manual labor, in which craftsmen could rejoice in their masterpieces.

Morris further hoped that exquisite furnishings would not be limited to the rich, but should also enter the homes of ordinary people. However, these two goals are often contradictory. The price of handmade products far exceeds that of machine-made products, and Morris's products are generally the most expensive on the market.

In the mid-1860s, Maurice devoted himself to wallpaper design and called himself one of the founders of Wallpaper, the most famous of which were: scaffolds, daisies and fruits. The trellis was Maurice's first wallpaper design. It was made in 1864 for use in the Red House and moved out in 1865. Morris couldn't draw birdies, so Philip Weber added the necessary birdies to it.

In 1875, MMF Company broke up, and Morris founded Morris Company to gain full control of independent production. At the peak of his creation, he developed and improved many printed patterns from the early 19th century. Initially, Morris focused on printing and dyeing using vegetable dyes and outsourced production.

He made lifelong friends and partners Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown and Philip Webb. Together with friends, he founded the former Raphael Brothers to resist kitsch art deco and industrial manufacturing of buildings, advocate the return of handicrafts, and elevate craftsmen to the status of artists. He believed that art should be affordable to ordinary people, handmade, and there should be no distinction between art media and superior ones.

Main achievements:

Founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement

Britain's most outstanding designer

Main works:

The Life and Death of Jason (1867)

"Secular Paradise"(1868-70), a series of poems telling Greek and medieval stories

News from Utopia (1890)

The Well at the End of the World (1892)

Water on Miracle Island (1896)