Short Course: William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement in England and Abroad

4 Sessions on Thursday mornings 10.00 to 12noon

20th Feb / 6th & 20th Mar / 3rd April

Cost (to cover room hire and refreshments) to be confirmed but estimated to be £10

Following on from last year's well received Rediscovering William Morris, this sequel will examine some lesser known aspects of his own work and achievements as well as the art of some major figures of people in his world. The lectures will cover the following topics with ample time for Q&A:

1. The Influence of Islamic Design on William Morris and the English Arts and Crafts Movement.
2. William and May Morris and the Women's Guild of Arts.
3. William Morris, Gertrude Jekyll and the Arts and Crafts Garden.
4. The International Arts and Crafts Legacy of William Morris.

Today William Morris is possibly known mainly as the leading figure of the Arts and Crafts movement but in his own time he was known as one of Britain’s foremost poets considered at one time as a possible Poet Laureate following the death of Tennyson.

As a member of the Pre-Raphaeliteshe helped change the face of British art. His passionate interest in architecture and conservation led him to form SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings).

As a follower of John Ruskin, he believed in the ultimate value of human craft and creativity feeling technology should serve humankind rather than dominate it. As a highly successful entrepreneur, the products of Morris & Co became the hallmark of fashionable Victorian design. As author of numerous prose romances, he influenced C.S.Lewis, J.R.R.Tolkein and Seamus Heaney.

He founded the Kelmscott Press reviving the art of fine printing. As a pioneering socialist he was a tireless campaigner whose ideas on the nature of work, community, fellowship and the environment are more relevant today than ever.

John Blewitt is author of William Morris and the Instinct for Freedom (London, Merlin Press, 2019) and editor of William Morris and John Ruskin: A New Road on Which the World Should Travel (Exeter University Press, 2019) and William Morris's Socialism (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, forthcoming 2025).