The William Morris Gallery is practically on our doorstep – just follow the north circular eastward to Walthamstow and the beautiful Georgian house that was Morris’s home from 1848-1856. There’s a great shop and café and lots of fascinating exhibits – well worth a trip.
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was born in Walthamstow and was to become one of the most culturally influential men of his time. We are still delighted by many of his textile and wallpaper designs, feel the result of his literary interest in the fantasy genre and, of course, his political ideas were very important to the emerging socialist movement. Above all it is probably his association with the English Arts and Crafts movement that is important today, with a legacy in housing such as that of the Hampstead Garden Suburb. This is the only gallery in Britain which is dedicated to his work and it is surprising just engaging the exhibits are. In 2013 the gallery won the prestigious ‘Museum of the Year’ prize, reflecting its quality.
The gallery explores Morris’s work as a designer, author, businessman and political activist, ranging from his utopian novel News from Nowhere to Morris & Co. furniture catalogues. He lived in the building that houses the gallery from 1848 to 1856, with his widowed mother and eight siblings. The new displays range in scale from a full-room reproduction of one of Morris’s workshops to a single sheet of paper, on which Morris explains his rejection of a career as a clergyman to pursue a life dedicated to art.
His political activism is a recurring theme – one object is displayed against a background listing the speeches he made advocating socialism, while a ‘fighting for a cause’ board invites visitors to submit their campaigns alongside Morris’s own, ‘art for all’ and ‘abolish capitalism’. His interest in ‘the handmade’ is discussed with some of his print blocks on display and descriptions of how he organised his work force. There is even an evocation of his first shop on Oxford Street full of his richly decorated textiles and objects. And when it all gets a bit too intense there’s Lloyd Park outside to get a breath of fresh air and imagine the young Morris running around in the garden.
For those who are interested, Morris’s first home as a married man, The Red House in Bexleyheath, is currently being restored and will be wonderful in a couple of years’ time.
William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow, E174PP
Tel: 020 8496 4390 http://www.wmgallery.org.uk/visit
