[Libri] Fwd: [ARLIS-L] William Morris exhibition at Yale Center for British Art

[Ensor at aol.com]

Thought this might be of interest to you all.  
Best,
Sura Levine

In a message dated 10/4/2004 3:18:44 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
elisabeth.fairman at YALE.EDU writes:
"“The Beauty of Life”: William Morris and the Art of Design
October 14, 2004-January 2, 2005
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT
 
William Morris (1834-1896) was among the most creative artists Britain has 
ever produced. A man of tremendous energy, he was a revolutionary interior 
designer and book printer, a staunch socialist, a famous and prolific poet, a 
weaver, embroiderer, dyer, calligrapher, translator, businessman, and architectural 
preservationist. He devoted his life to the decorative arts as the head of 
the internationally successful firm, Morris & Company, which he ran for over 
thirty years. Late in life, he established the Kelmscott Press to produce books 
that were beautiful objects in their own right. Morris defined art and beauty 
as integral to life itself and wrote in his 1880 lecture, The Beauty of Life, “
Beauty, which is what is meant by art, using the word in its widest sense, is, 
I contend, no mere accident to human life, which people can take or leave as 
they choose, but a positive necessity of life, if we are to live as nature 
meant us to; that is, unless we are content to be less than men.” 
 
Organized by the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens 
in San Marino, California, “The Beauty of Life”: William Morris and the Art of 
Design presents almost 200 items from the Huntington's collection of William 
Morris materials, the largest of its kind outside of the United Kingdom.  
Additions have also been made from the Center’s collections, and from the Beinecke 
Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the Yale University Library’s Arts of 
the Book Collection.  Included are original designs for stained glass, 
wallpaper, textiles, embroidery, tapestry, and books, as well as correspondence, a 
selection of rare editions published by the Kelmscott Press, and the manuscript 
for Morris's major poetic work, The Earthly Paradise.  A spectacular 18-foot 
tall stained glass window designed by Morris’s partner and life-long friend 
Edward Burne-Jones will be featured in the Center’s entrance court.  
 
Morris founded Morris & Company in 1861 with Burne-Jones, the artists Dante 
Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown, and the architect Philip Webb. Morris 
took an active role in the firm's creative enterprises, mastering all aspects of 
the production and design of stained glass, wallpaper, printed and woven 
textiles, and tapestry. The Huntington's collection in particular demonstrates the 
design and production processes of the firm, from pencil and watercolor 
sketches to the company's original Minute Book. In addition
to showcasing Morris and his partners' genius for design, the exhibition 
explores Morris's fashioning of new forms and styles based upon his passion for 
the art and culture of the past, building a modern art upon medieval 
foundations. Morris's idealization of a medieval model of life that integrated creativity 
and labor led him to become a committed socialist, and a selection of 
material related to Morris’s political activities will be on
view. A final section of the exhibition is devoted to the lesser-known 
activities of the firm after Morris’s death until its dissolution in 1940, 
represented in the work of John Henry Dearle, Morris's chosen successor as primary 
designer.  Morris’s lifework inspired the Arts and Crafts movement on both sides 
of the Atlantic and has proven lasting in its visionary transformation of 
interior design into art.
 
A fully-illustrated companion publication, entitled “The Beauty of Life”: 
William Morris and the Art of Design, edited by the exhibition curator Diane 
Waggoner and published by Thames & Hudson, is available in the Museum Shop.
 
For more information, visit the Center’s web site at www.yale.edu/ycba or 
call 203-432-2800. 
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From: Elisabeth Fairman <elisabeth.fairman at YALE.EDU>
Subject: [ARLIS-L] William Morris exhibition at Yale Center for British Art
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