William Morris wallpaper exhibition at York Art Gallery

The exhibition offers a new perspective on Morris’s distinctive wallpaper designs, highlighting why he is considered to be one of the most influential pattern designers in modern history and how his work continues to inspire interior design even today. The show features over 130 works and covers the period from the 1830s to the 1920s. There will be work on display from other acclaimed 19th and 20th century designers such as Owen Jones, Christopher Dresser and CFA Voysey. It also includes some designs that predate Morris such as Victorian woodblocks and Japanese wallpaper produced for export, providing a flavour of and a context for what was prevalent at the time that Morris began thinking about his own designs.

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“The type of wallpapers that William Morris grew up surrounded by was fancy French wallpaper,” says Walsh. “He was raised in a wealthy middle-class family; they had a lovely house in the countryside in Essex and had all the latest fashions in French wallpaper. He reacted against that and wanted to offer less fussy and flowery designs. The founding of his company is part of the exhibition and there is an interesting story about how when he and his wife were married, they commissioned an architect to design their home. It was very much a medieval gothic style and when they came to decorate it, they found the decorative options were limited and not to their taste. With their circle of artistic friends, they began devising their own designs and eventually that became their company.”

Morris began designing wallpapers in the 1860s and within a decade he was creating some of his most enduring designs, including Larkspur, Jasmine (both 1872) and Willow (1874). The largest section of the exhibition focuses on Morris’ lasting and wide-ranging legacy. He was a designer, writer, poet, translator, publisher, environmentalist and committed socialist. Alongside John Ruskin, Morris was an important figure in the Arts & Crafts movement, a campaigner and activist who believed passionately in workers’ rights, promoted the importance of craft skills and aimed to democratize good design. He wanted to make it accessible to everyone, famously advocating: ‘have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.’

Framed original samples of wallpaper designs will be on display in the exhibition, alongside selected pieces of upholstered furniture in Morris & Co fabrics to transport visitors into the 19th and 20th century interiors for which the wallpapers were produced. There will also be material outside for visitors to enjoy. “Many of his designs were inspired by the natural world, he was bringing nature inside,” says Walsh. “So we are putting some of designs on display in the gardens of the gallery, taking his designs back outside. Among the many things that Morris was involved in was to help start the garden city movement – the idea that people living in cities deserved access to nature – and we were inspired by that.”

More than 150 years since Morris’s early wallpaper designs first appeared, his legacy and influence live on. “William Morris’ impact is astonishing and the fact that these wallpaper designs from the 1800s are still being produced and hanging in people’s homes is amazing,” says Walsh. “I hope visitors to the exhibition will be inspired not only by his designs but also by his ideas around craftsmanship and sustainability.”

Unveiling the Art of Wallpaper: Morris & Co Exhibition opens at York Art Gallery on September 27 and runs until February 23, 2025. Wednesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm.

yorkartgallery.org.uk