Artists I admire | William Morris

I recently visited the William Morris Gallery in London. Honestly, I don’t know why it’s taken me until now to go there. I have always been a huge fan of William Morris and his beautiful art and design work, but I wanted to know more about him as a person, where he got his inspiration from and the sort of life he lived. As a creative person, other creative individuals naturally inspire me. I think it’s really important to seek inspiration from other professionals, especially when you’re just starting out professionally yourself. To gain some of that invaluable inspiration, I thought I would make the trip to a gallery devoted to the life and legacy of William Morris, an artist I truly admire even more so now, than I did before.

The Gallery sits proudly on the edge of Lloyd Park, staring out across a busy road in the now up and coming suburban district of Walthamstow in east London. The Gallery, formerly one of Morris’s homes way-back-when, almost seems slightly out of place amongst its now shabby east London surroundings. It looks as though it belongs in the countryside in one of the Home Counties. I suppose the scene back in the day would have been more fitting for such a beautiful Georgian building.

Image source: wmgallery.org

What interests me in particular about William Morris is his love for nature, which is quite obviously shown in his work. Those who know me personally will know that I am very much interested in the natural world, so this is something I really relate to and admire about him. Not only did he love spending time outdoors in nature, he strived to make a difference, to change people’s perspective of how we view nature and how we must treasure and protect it. William Morris took much of his own inspiration from Gothic architecture. He enjoyed visiting cathedrals in England and France and was fascinated by the amount of detail in medieval stonework, stained-glass and sculptor. He was just generally a lover of beautiful and unique works of art.

While I explored the gallery and admired his creations, I learned a lot about him as a person, though I won’t go ahead and write a huge essay about him now. If a full history and life story is what you’re after, go to the gallery, you won’t regret it! So rather than an essay, here are some of the things that stood out to me on my visit.

William Morris was a designer, craftsman, writer, conservationist and socialist. That’s quite a hefty number of professions! He was incredibly passionate about his interests and very driven in his work and aspirations, which I suppose allowed him to do so many different things throughout his life and to also be successful at doing them. He was also very opinionated and wasn’t afraid to voice his views. One of his greatest achievements was founding Morris & Co, an incredibly successful interior design business that he started with a group of friends from university.

With the arrogance of youth, I determined to do no less than to transform the world with beauty

– William Morris

The above quote is one of many displayed in the gallery on the walls amongst the informative text that narrates throughout. I love this quote; it’s such a simple yet such a huge statement to make.

William Morris and his friends shared the desire to transform the Victorian age. They weren’t keen on the clutter of many wealthy Victorian households. They were instead passionate about high quality, well-made design and wanted to make their products accessible to the wider market.

Industrialisation left London and many other parts of the UK, tatty and polluted. He longed to bring beauty back and believed it was a basic need for everyone to have access to the arts. Throughout his life he contended for social equality and wanted to encourage and motivate more people into craftsmanship. He was involved in many campaigns to preserve historic buildings and to conserve the environment.

Towards the end of the gallery I was left with this brilliant quote that I couldn’t agree with more.

There is no square mile on earth’s inhabitable surface that is not beautiful in its own way, if we will only abstain from wilfully destroying that beauty.

– William Morris

This couldn’t be truer! We live in such a beautiful world, rich in biodiversity. Protecting and conserving the environment is vital to the existence of humanity and all living beings. I think we often forget that we humans are part of nature. It is not separate from us, nor do we have power over it. By destroying it we are essentially destroying ourselves.

William Morris inspires me not just because I love his work but I also share his values. I admire his eagerness to achieve his dreams and his enthusiasm despite other people’s opinions. I strongly believe it is really important to do something you love. If you are passionate about what you do, you will enjoy it more, have a better chance of becoming successful and achieve a sense of fulfilment.

Thanks for reading. Have a beautiful day!