The Biography of William Morris: Man Working a Lot

Starting with a famous quote of William Morris: Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. This quote is quite self explanatory that things you keep in your house should be beautiful and useful whereas his designs were simple yeat beautiful.

William Morris died at the age of sixty two his physician said that this was due to him working more than anyone he was the founder of klemscott press Morris did a lot of political activity also he worked as artist, craftsman, book designer, poet, and novelist; all his artistic skills were of a piece in the sense that each contributed in its own way to the betterment of Victorian culture, and by extension, to the reformation of society as a whole. Morris was interested in Emery walkers illustrated lecture in printing on 1988 printing on it began on spring 1981 Morris referred to the fifteen century printers he used hand press instead of machine press Morris , thought about rethinking the relationship between type, image, and decorative elements. He came to a conclusion that Darker, bigger typefaces and less spacing between words and lines would create a more striking effect than the typical grey page of commercial printing Morris highlighted the importance of wood cut ornaments and borders on a printed page.

The golden legend was the seventh book of klemscott press Morris chose to use an English translation prepared by the first English printer. The book genesis was his famous work. He had a clear vision for designing a handmade book he influenced modern printing and quality design were lacking in the Victorian mass-produced books of his era. Morris was familiar with medieval manuscripts and early typography and he had designed three types gothic printer troy and golden type and particularly the work of the Venetian printer Nicholas Jensen, on whose type Morris modeled the Golden type, the first set he designed for the Press they were inspired by the letterforms of Nicholas Jensen.

Morris, also a designer of textiles and furniture, selected the texts and created the designs for the books printed by the Kelmscott Press. Morris was a close friend of many of the Pre-Raphaelite artists, and their style can be seen in his work. The golden type was the font designed by William Morris it was a serif font. Morris’s designs were made from nature and natural ingredients like vegetable dyes were used in his printing press and also wood blocks for making designs. Morris manufactured his own pen and even ink by reading and studying manuscripts. klemscott published fifty three books eighteen thousand copies in seven years. Morris was not only in design of the books but he also wrote a lot of books which were an inspiration for CS Lewis. Morris invented useful products like wallpapers , books ,carpets he used medieval and modern design he made simple yet beautiful designs whose traces are still present in today’s work

William Morris Experiment With Text

One of his famous typefaces was golden type which was a bit darker version of Nicholas jensens typeface. He was influenced by gothic revival. Morris translated 'The Sagas of Icelanders', which was based on events that happened in Iceland between the 9th and 11th centuries. Morris knew how to manage space by enhancing text content. Morris knew how to form roman, italic and glided letters.

Different Movements: Art and Craft Movement

William Morris was the leader of the English Arts and Crafts movement, true to the idea of materials and techniques for generation, and individual articulation by both originator and specialist. Writing became a daily activity for Morris, who published his first volume of poems at age twenty-four. Medieval arts and botanical forms were his main inspirations. The firm reorganized in 1875 as Morris and Company, with Morris as the sole owner. He was deeply concerned about the problems of industrialization and the factory system, Morris tried to implement Ruskin’s ideas that the tastelessness of mass produced goods can be solved by art and craft . Art and craft might combine to create beautiful objects, from buildings to bedding; workers might find joy in their work once again, and the man-made environment. Morris joins six friends and craftsmen such as Arthur H. Mackmurdo to form The Century Guild. The house as a whole was considered a design problem that the guild sought to solve using the Arts and Crafts aesthetic. Hobbyhorse periodical supports and introduces the Arts and Crafts viewpoint to a larger audience, and in turn creates business and profit for the design movement.

Art Noveau

A style of decorative art, architecture, and design prominent in western Europe and the USA from about 1890 until the First World and it was based on curves and linear lines and vertical lines and women served as the main motives for the noveau . Art Nouveau is said to have been the precursor to all futurist movements of the day. It is different from the past. This type of art was derived from rococo and from Japanese art. some of the famous artists of art noveau were Jules Cheret who was known as the father of women liberation movement his work included bold typography loud colours and independent women whereas Eugene Grassets work had Japanese wooden blocks and muted colours he also designed pictorial space William Morris was the founder of the Art Nouveau Arts and Crafts Movement in England. Details of Morris’s work were shown in Jules work as they both used natural forms curvy designs and curvy typography whereas he also used muted colors like Eugene grasset. One of the earliest works of noveau style was 1859’s Red House of Morris. Art noveau had sharp details. It also included glass paintings architecture and even jewelry design with women features and natural forms.

Art Deco

Art deco started off at Paris. Art deco was symmetrical, geometrical streamlined and pleasing to the eye it is quite similar to art noveau and morris’s work as it emphasized the quality of handmade objects and organic plant like structures in their work. a group of French artists formed a group the group included Eugene grasset, Hector Guimard, along with emerging decorative artists and designers such as Pierre Chareau and Francis Jourdain these people challenged visual arts art deco was a much detailed yet elaborated version of art deco since art noveau felt out of fashion art deco came in existence Grauman’s Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles and Radio City Music Hall in New York City Art Deco was the design choice for movie theaters of the era. The age of art deco was the golden age of nineteen twenties to nineteen eightees it included mordenity with industrial techniques It was a style used primarily in the design of buildings, furniture, jewellery, and interior décor this movement is full of experiments with glass and plastic. art deco style began taking on a softer look, with curved lines

Futurism

This movement emphasized speed, technology, youth violence and objects such as car, the aero plane and the industrial city. This was a movement of intellectuals to start fresh Fortunato Depero is an artist who allows a wider propagation of an otherwise elitist movement. This is managed by ads and posters displaying reduced forms / sans serif bold typography and geometric planes of color. Thread-like brushstrokes and keyed color that depicted space as fragmented and fractured were an important feature of the paintings that were put up in Milan.

Dadaism

this movement contained images full of shocking images full of protest the term DADA was randomly picked out of a dictionary meaning a child’s hobbyhorse. It rejected all forms and institutionalized art and design. Marcel Duchamp selected mass-produced objects and designed them as art giving them titles he argued that with an artist’s effort objects can be created in art whereas Kurt Schwitters brought collage and photomontage to the forefront of this movement. His compositions consisted of found materials, rubbish, printed images, and very rarely commissioned photographs. In 1918 created his own form of Dada in Hanover called 'Merz', using rubbish materials such as labels, bus tickets and bits of broken wood in his collages and constructions.