William Morris and company: the Arts and Crafts movement in Great Britain, is produced by the Juan March Foundation and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona, and aims to explore the many facets of the craftsman, designer, entrepreneur, poet, essayist and social agitator William Morris (1834-1896), as well as leading figures of the British movement Arts and Crafts. The project tries to show not only the historical figure of Morris, but the validity of his work and his ideas.
The exhibition is organized in four chronological and thematic sections with 300 important pieces of furniture, textiles, wallpapers, jewelry, glass, ceramics, metalwork, binding, painting, drawing, engraving and photography.
Between 16 and 28 November, a series of four lectures were organized, in parallel with the exhibition, by Ignacio Peyró ("William Morris in Victorian England" by José Francisco Yvars ("The Long Shadow of John Ruskin"), ), Manuel Fontán del Junco ("William Morris: beauty and justice") and Guillermo de Osma ("Mariano Fortuny: beyond William Morris").
The intinerante exhibition will travel later on from Madrid to Barcelona;
This exhibition will offer an unprecedented opportunity to explore the many faces of the designer, craftsman, retailer, poet, and social agitator William Morris (1834-1896), as well as those of the main figures in the Arts and Crafts movement. This new generation of architects, designers, artists and craftsmen, shared a passionate concern for the harmful effects of industrialization on society, working conditions and traditional British crafts.
The movement promoted the widespread revival of handicrafts, honest, simple construction, and high quality materials, as both a philosophy for production and as a means of decorating the home. It also believed strongly in the attractions of the simple life and living close to nature. The questions that the movement raised about sustainable production, the balance between work and life, truth to materials, the beauty of the everyday object, and the preservation of historical buildings and the environment continue to resonate to this day.
The show will be organized in four chronological and thematic sections which will feature 300 emblematic works, including furniture, textiles, wallpapers, jewellery, glass, ceramics, metalwork, book bindings, paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs. The first section will be devoted to the Origins to Red House (1834-1860) with works by A.W.N. Pugin, John Ruskin, and other figures associated with the Gothic Revival. It will also feature works by members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood such as D. G. Rossetti and E. Burne-Jones. The second section, William Morris and Company (1861-1896) will focus on objects produced and sold by the Morris company with an exploration of how they were made. Attention will also be drawn to Morris's commitment to conservation and socialism, and to the work of his printing house, the Kelmscott Press. A third section will review The Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain (1887-1914), with works by C.R. Ashbee, M.H. Baillie Scott, Sidney Barnsley, W. Crane, E. Gimson, W.R. Lethaby, C. R. and M. M. Mackintosh, C.F.A. Voysey, P. Webb, and commercial suppliers such as Liberty and Heal's. The last section will be dedicated to the The Spread of the Arts and Crafts Movement (1890-1914), with pieces that will illustrate the connections between the British movement and its development in countries such as Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain and USA.
Star objects will include a vast hand-woven tapestry illustrating the legend of the Quest for the Holy Grail made by Morris & Co in the 1890s, an exquisite cabinet painted with images of rural life by Ernest Gimson, beautiful embroidery panels by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, and a large stained glass window by Frank Lloyd Wright. Almost all the works in the exhibition have never been seen in Spain before.
A travelling exhibition, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona will host the show from 22 February to 21 May 2018.
