Moving through theoretical, historical, and exegetical analyses of propagandist texts, Reclaiming William Morris brings out the aesthetic underpinnings of nationalist ideology. Combining the philosophical substance of Karl Marx, Georg Lukács, Antonio Gramsci, and Ernst Bloch with Kantian aesthetics, Weinroth constructs a conceptual apparatus that explains the impassioned yet decidedly marginal rhetoric of early twentieth-century English communism.
William Morris—the great 19th-century craftsman, designer, poet and writer—remains a monumental figure whose influence resonates powerfully today. As an intellectual (and author of the seminal utopian News from Nowhere), his concern with artistic and human values led him to cross what he called the “river of fire” and become a committed socialist—committed not to some theoretical formula but to the day by day struggle of working women and men in Britain and to the evolution of his ideas about art, about work and about how life should be lived. Many of his ideas accorded none too well with the reforming tendencies dominant in the labour movement, nor with those of “orthodox” Marxism, which has looked elsewhere for inspiration. Both sides have been inclined to venerate Morris rather than to pay attention to what he said. In this biography, written less than a decade before his groundbreaking The Making of the English Working Class, E.P. Thompson brought his now trademark historical mastery, passion, wit, and essential sympathy. It remains unsurpassed as the definitive work on this remarkable figure, by the major British historian of the 20th century.
William Morris (1834–96) was an English poet, decorative artist, translator, romance writer, book designer, preservationist, socialist theorist, and political activist, whose admirers have been drawn to the sheer intensity of his artistic endeavors and efforts to live up to radical ideals of social justice. This Companion draws together historical and critical responses to the impressive range of Morris’s multi-faceted life and activities: his homes, travels, family, business practices, decorative artwork, poetry, fantasy romances, translations, political activism, eco-socialism, and book collecting and design. Each chapter provides valuable historical and literary background information, reviews relevant opinions on its subject from the late-nineteenth century to the present, and offers new approaches to important aspects of its topic. Morris’s eclectic methodology and the perennial relevance of his insights and practice make this an essential handbook for those interested in art history, poetry, translation, literature, book design, environmentalism, political activism, and Victorian and utopian studies.
This book offers a new interpretation of William Morris’s utopianism as a strategic extension of his political writing. Morris’s utopian writing, alongside his journalism and public lectures, constituted part of a sustained counter-hegemonic project that intervened both into the life-world of the fin de siècle socialist movement, as well as the dominant literary cultures of his day. Owen Holland demonstrates this by placing Morris in conversation with writers of first-wave feminism, nineteenth-century pastoralists, as well as the romance revivalists and imperialists of the 1880s. In doing so, he revises E.P. Thompson’s and Miguel Abensour’s argument that Morris’s utopian writing should be conceived as anti-political and heuristic, concerned with the pedagogic education of desire, rather than with the more mundane work of propaganda. He shows how Morris’s utopianism emerged against the grain of the now-here, embroiled in instrumental, propagandistic polemic, complicating Thompson’s and Abensour’s view of its anti-political character.
A prolific artist, writer, designer, and political activist, William Morris remains remarkably powerful and relevant today. But how do you teach someone like Morris who made significant contributions to several different fields of study? And how, within the exigencies of the modern educational system, can teachers capture the interdisciplinary spirit of Morris, whose various contributions hang so curiously together? Teaching William Morris gathers together the work of nineteen Morris scholars from a variety of fields, offering a wide array of perspectives on the challenges and the rewards of teaching William Morris. Across this book’s five sections—“Pasts and Presents,” “Political Contexts,” “Literature,” “Art and Design,” and “Digital Humanities”—readers will learn the history of Morris’s place in the modern curriculum, the current state of the field for teaching Morris’s work today, and how this pedagogical effort is reaching well beyond the college classroom.
The great polymath William Morris and his contemporaries and followers--from H. Rider Haggard to H. G. Wells--are the focus of this study. Anna Vaninskaya draws upon a wide array of primary sources: from working-class fiction and articles in fringe socialist newspapers to historical treatises, autobiographies and diaries, in order to explore the many ways Victorians and Edwardians talked about community and modernity. Vaninskaya's narrative moves from the realm of romance bestsellers and sniggering reviews to debates in weighty historical tomes, and then to the headquarters of revolutionary parties, to street-corners and shabby lecture halls. She demonstrates how in each domain the dream of community clashed with the reality of the modern state and market.
Marking the 125th anniversary of William Morris’s death, this is the most wide-ranging illustrated book about Morris ever published. William Morris’s interests were wide-ranging: he was a poet, writer, political and social activist, conservationist, and businessman, as well as a brilliant and original designer and manufacturer. This book explores the balance between Morris’s various spheres of activity, places his art in the context of its time, and examines his ongoing and far-reaching legacy. A pioneer of the Arts & Crafts Movement, William Morris (1834–1896) is one of the most influential designers of all time. Morris turned the tide of Victorian England against an increasingly industrialized manufacturing process toward a rediscovered respect for the skill of the maker. Morris’s whole approach still resonates today, and his designs are popular and much admired. Published to mark the 125th anniversary of Morris’s death, this book includes contributions from a wide range of Morris experts, with chapters on painting, church decoration and stained glass, interior decoration, furniture, tiles and tableware, wallpaper, textiles, calligraphy, and publishing. Additional materials include a contextualized chronology of Morris’s life and a list of public collections around the world where examples of Morris’s work may be seen today. This study is a wide- ranging, fully illustrated exploration of a great thinker and artist, and essential reading for anyone interested in the history of design.
To Build a Shadowy Isle of Bliss casts new light on the political radicalism and social thought of nineteenth-century artist, author, and revolutionary, William Morris. Standing on the cusp of a new wave of scholarship, this book presents an exciting convergence of views among internationally renowned scholars in the field of Victorian Studies. Balancing variety and unity, this collection reappraises Morris’s concept of social change and asks how we might think beyond the institutions and epistemologies of our time. Though the political significance of Morris’s creative work is often underestimated, the essays in this volume showcase its subtlety and sophistication. Each chapter discerns the power and novelty of Morris’s radicalism within his aesthetic creations and demonstrates how his most compelling political ideas bloomed wherever his dexterous hand had been at work - in wallpapers, floral borders, medievalist romances, and verse. Morris's theory and practice of aesthetic creation can be seen as the crucible of his entire philosophy of social change. In situating Morris's radicalism at the heart of his creative legacy, and in reanimating debates about nineteenth-century art and politics, To Build a Shadowy Isle of Bliss challenges and expands received notions of the radical, the aesthetic, and the political.
Dreaming and relaxing, with the evocative designs of William Morris, this beautiful new book will give you many hours of pleasure, and calm. Printed on high quality paper, this new book features 45 powerful William Morris artworks for you to colour, offering a suggestion of how the original looked as well as key information such as title and date. Morris is perhaps the most famous artist craftsmen in the world, and his bold and visually expressive paintings resonate still today. This book will take you on an enjoyable journey where the satisfaction of creating stunning artworks is mixed with rediscovering the joy of colouring. You can use a wide variety of pens: from gel and pencil, to pigment and crayons, from ballpoint and rollerball to highlighters, although it’s best to avoid the heavy felt pens. Each page is perforated near the spine of the book, so you can tear out and frame, or simply place your wonderful creation on the walls of your home, perhaps even send them as a gift to your loved ones. Bring the Ink to life!
William Morris was an English artist and designer who lived from 1834 to 1896. One of his many talents was drawing wallpaper designs. Youll find 22 of his designs in this coloring book. They are shown as small reproductions on the inside front and back covers. When you color in these designs, you might want to try to copy his colors, or you might decide to use your own. Youll notice that for three of the designs, he used just one color, or shades of one color, plus white. Will those designs look better to you with lots of color? See what you think!
