Details of This Year's Symposium!

William Morris and the Natural World will take place on Saturday, June 25. This all-day event will include lunch, and the opportunity to book for the following day's Wychwood Park garden tour and tea. All the details, including cost and how to register, can be found by clicking our Future Events tab (above).

Also, save the date for October 15/16 of this year, as the WMSC is organizing another of our very popular weekend bus tours, this time to Collingwood!

In the meantime, have a wonderful summer!

Kelmscott Manor. Watercolor, ca. 1905, by Marie Spartali Stillman [Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, on loan to the University of Delaware Library] 

Of Interest

 Have you visited our Of Interest page recently? Click here or on the tab above. Here you'll find current and future events of interest to fans of Morris and his circle of influence. Just announced, Walker Gallery in Liverpool's Pre-Raphaelites: Beauty and Rebellion, featuring some paintings never before seen in public!

Picture: In The Grass, Arthur Hughes © Museums Sheffield

Celebrating... and Looking Ahead

We're looking forward to seeing members and their guests at today's Birthday Lecture by Brian Blackstock: Architectural Preservation in Upper Canada: a case study. Afterwards we'll toast Morris and get a slice of this year's Morris-inspired birthday cake.

Keep checking back as future events are being finalized including talks on the history of Craft Ontario, Morris and radicalism, a year in the life of Morris, News from Nowhere, a picnic/book club, a fall weekend tour, a cemetary ramble and the Yuletide dinner. Keep coming back to check for details and/or follows us on Twitter and Facebook!

The Newcomb Pottery Exhibit

A large, hardy group of WMSC members met up yesterday morning (a snowy one) at the Gardiner Museum for the excellent Women, Art & Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise exhibition. We split into two groups for the private tour with our knowledgable guides and were enchanted by the story behind the pottery and the striking pieces created.

The Gardiner, one of this blog's favourite boutique hotels, is a must-visit for all Torontonians and visitors. Be sure to visit before this particular exhibition ends May 18!

Also, keep up to date on our future events by clicking the FUTURE EVENTS button above.

Around 1914: Design in a New Age Decorative Arts Symposium

WMSC member Karen Stanley attended this symposium in support of the ROM's new exhibit, which you can read more about here. And here's what Karen had to say!


The Royal Ontario Museum hosted a symposium on April 10-11, 2014. The ROM first opened in 1914 during a time of change that was accelerated by industrialization and new modes of manufacture. The opening guest speaker was supposed to have been Margaret Macmillan but was unavailable. She was replaced by Rosalind Pepall, former Senior Curator of Decorative Art, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Her keynote remarks were regarding Soaring Ambition and Design Before the War. She was a very good speaker and talked about the period as a time of bold experimentation and questioning regarding tradition that rejected conventional ornamentation and historical precedents. It laid the foundation of the movement to “modern” and a new concept called “industrial design”. The time was moving from Arts and Crafts to Art and Industry.

The following day a series of international scholars spoke about designers and crafts people who were responding to the ideological and social challenges of the period through art, architecture and design.

On April 11 Dr. Paul Stirton, Professor Bard Graduate Centre, Decorative Arts, Design History Material Culture, New York opened the morning session and spoke about the Arts and Crafts in the UK before the first World War. He spoke about crafts people such as Charles Robert Ashbee and Liberty’s of London.

Dr. Pamela Robertson, Senior Curator and Professor of Mackitosh Studies The Hunterian, University of Glasgow followed. She spoke of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Architecture. At the time Mackintosh’s designs were considered controversial and innovative.

Dr. Martin Eidelberg, Professor of Art History at Rutgers University gave a lecture on The Rise and Fall of Tiffany Studios.

Etienne Tornier, Institut National de l’Histoire de l”Art, Paris gave a presentation of Art Nouveau, Siegfried Bing and America.

Dr. Christian Witt-Dorring, Curator MAK Vienna and the Neue Galerie, New York gave an interactive presentation on Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffmann-Two ways to Modernism in Vienna 1900.

The symposium ended with Peter Behrens, Painter, Architect, Industrial Designer, given by Dr. Stanford Anderson, Professor of History and Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

During the day participants were encouraged to view the ROM’s exhibition that accompanied the symposium. The ROM had pieces on display of Charles Robert Ashbee, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Hosef Hoffman, Hacob and Josef Kohn, and Peter Behrens, to name a few.


Image from the ROM's website: Chair designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Scottish, 1868-1928) Probably made by Francis Smith and Son Oak, stained dark, horsehair fabric cover Glasgow, Scotland Designed c. 1898-1900, made c. 1898-1900.

Finally... Doctor Who, Brad Pitt and Selfies make an Appearance on the Blog!

I'm not going to let the blog lag like I did last month... so here we go with more news from Twitter and elsewhere.

~ Here's a stunning new offering from the Folio Society. It's a reproduction of Morris's The Odes of Horace. At $795.00 CDN, it's not in everyone's budget, but if it is - wow, what a gift for yourself or someone you really love!

~ Martin Stott (@divinity65) will be hosting his first William Morris Society (UK) event as president. The lecture by Bill Peterson is titled Virtual partner; Emery Walker & the Kelmscott Press. It's this Saturday at 2:15 p.m. in case you happen to be in London! And attention printing geeks! Our mother-ship organization has charmingly created these Albion Press "selfie" cards.They're available for purchase from the society. Visit their website, under "SHOP."

~ The Victorian Society's (@thevicsoc) new magazine issue is out now. It features Morris on the cover and Fiona MacCarthy on Morris and Ayla Lepine (@heartchitecture) on Watts & Co.The magazine gets sent out three times a year to members of the VS.

~ And it's not every day we mention Doctor Who and Brad Pitt on here, but - well, okay, we never have, but here it is: both actors have stepped up to support the fund-raising campaign to help restore the fire-damaged, Mackintosh-designed Glasgow School of Art by becoming trustees of the appeal. We here at WMSC knew Brad Pitt was a keen fan of architecture, and now we know that native Glaswegian Peter (Doctor Who) Capaldi studied at GSoA and has sent a delightful video message. Read the GSoA's blog post, complete with video and background on the actors and their interest in the building here.

Keep sending in your  news! Thanks everyone.

A Bit of Everything

We're just a bit behind here, but there's much to catch up on!

First off, news related to the man himself:

~ Kelmscott Manor unvelied its new website... right... here!

~ The National Portrait Gallery in London will hold an exhbition this fall: Anarchy & Beauty: William Morris and His Legacy, 1860 - 1960. This sounds unmissable. Any WMSC members going over? Let us know if you are!

~ On May 28, at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, Darren Hayman recorded his arrangements of Morris's Chants for Socialists, with an amateur choir. Let's hope we get to hear the results soon!

~ Holly Cecil, as part of an undergraduate research project at the University of Victoria, B.C., has created four documentary shorts exploring Morris's life and work. Fantastic work, Holly! You can watch all four here!

~ Check out the University of Maryland's William Morris Collection of books and papers here.

~ William Morris was included in an 1873 book of cartoons of leading 19th-century figures. You can see the cartoon here.

~ The society was so saddened to hear of the passing of former president and long-time member Jean Johnson on May 27, at the age of 90. Read this lovely tribute here on OCAD's site. A very moving funeral service was attended by many members. It was lovely to spend time with them all after, and with Jean's many friends and her delightful daughter Anne. There will be a celebration of Jean's life at a future time.

~ A lot of our members will have attended Elaine Waisglass's photography exhibition at First Canadian Place, either at the opening (May 7, which four of the usual suspects attended and are photographed above), or at a special viewing on Saturday May 24, when Elaine also graciously hosted a wonderful garden party at her home. Members were able to revel in the beautiful plants that feature so strikingly in Elaine's photographs. You can see some of those photographs by visiting Elaine's website here.

~ On May 26 we attended an excellent architectural tour of University College led by Sharon Vattay. Thanks to Susan Pekilis for the photograph!

~ We were all holding our breath in horror when news of the terrible fire at Glasgow School of Art broke out. This amazing Rennie Mackintosh-designed building sustained damage, particularly to the library, but much was saved and efforts are underway to restore this architectural gem, which has meant so much to generations of artists, students and visitors.

~ You may have heard of the Delaware Art Museum's decision to sell some of their art to pay off construction debts and to replenish their endowment. The news that Holman Hunt's Isabella and the Pot of Basil was to be sold had art lovers around the world reeling. Today the painting was sold as part of a larger group at Christies. Today, on the Christies website, the result was described thusly: The [catalogue] cover lot, Isabella and the Pot of Basil, a masterpiece by Holman Hunt, sold for £2,882,500, a record for the artist at auction, surpassing the previous record of £1.8 million set in 1994. Unfortunately this comes quite a bit lower than expected and Pre-Raphaelite fans around the world will wait in dread to see what lot goes up for sale next. The Delaware Art Museum, a favourite on WMSC tours, houses the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite art in North America.

That's all for now folks!

The Week in Morris

As we in Canada limp towards spring, it's been mouth-watering to see wonderful pictures tweeted by Red House and Kelmscott Manor of all the lovely blossoms and greenery they have been enjoying. We'll catch up soon! In the meantime, here's what's been happening online:

~ This week the ROM's symposium for their "Around 1914: Design in a New Age" exhibit takes place. Are you going? Wish I was!

~ On the night of the 1861 census, here's the list of people residing at Red House, including house guest Algernon Swinburne. Check out how young they all were!

~ The new show by WMSC member Elaine Waisglass opened at the Roberts Gallery and runs til April 25. Click here for an article in the Toronto Star about Elaine's inspirations.

~ More here on University of College London's Publishing Project, in which students work "with the William Morris Society. Together they will produce a physical publication that highlights some aspects of the Society’s collections and history – focussing in particular on Morris’s belief in books as objects of beauty.  Students will receive training in key production skills by staff at UCL, and in object handling, selecting and curating content, with support and expertise from the staff at the Society.  It is hoped that this partnership will result in a product for the Society’s use and dissemination, as well as giving the students an amazing opportunity to engage with one of the most important aesthetic movements of book production there has ever been – the works of Morris and the Kelmscott Press."

~ @nouveaudigital suggests helping to spread the word on your favourite museums or galleries that feature Pre-Raphaelite works by placing a review on Trip Advisor. Check one out here!

~ Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery is featuring the OTHER Pre-Raphaelite stunners, in an exhibition on how the Pre-Raphaelites treated the male form.

~ You can explore Ruskin's drawing techniques as the Watts Gallery is hosting a Ruskin Techniques Workshop on April 26.

That's it for now! Feel free to send in news and other items of interest by e-mailing us.

The Week in Morris (and More)

It's been a really busy week here at the William Morris Society of Canada. The board is hard at work pulling together the final details for our symposium, and planning future events. Meanwhile, news from across the city and around the world:

~ It's still so very bitterly cold here in Toronto, but this is a warming thought: the Long Table at the William Morris Gallery is a regular happening, which the gallery describes as:

"An alternative dining experience that brings William Morris' ideas of fellowship to life. Enjoy great British food, carefully selected craft beers and excellent company in a communal atmosphere. Say hello, find common ground and tuck in."

~ There's lots of excitement around the excellent John Ruskin exhibit at the National Gallery in Ottawa. Thanks for the heads up, WMSC member Lera Kotsyuba. Who's going?

~ Toronto is busting with great art shows to explore. Here are some.

~ In 1859, the Hogarth Club boasted some intriguing members!

~ One of our favourite bloggers, Kirsty Stonell Walker is giving a talk on Alexa Wilding in May in Bournemouth, in case you're in the area.

~ @WMorrisArtistry is digitizing the Kelmscott Press archives for a forthcoming book!

~ If you feel like adding something very special to your home, check out Project31, an auction of faculty art in support of OCAD students.

~ If you're in Connecticut, the Connecticut Repertory Theater is premiering a puppet stage version of Christina Rossetti's sensual and eerie poem Goblin Market. you can read more here.

~ The quote of the day has to be this one, by Morris: "Last night I dreamed I had to draw a sausage; somehow I had to eat it first, which made me anxious about my digestion."

~ And, from Ayla Lepine (teaches art history at U of Nottingham) of @heartchitecture, here's a Sunday smile: "art historians curating loo graffiti"

We hope to see you at next week's symposium, Saturday, March 22!

The Week in Morris (and more)

The Gardiner Museum (@gardinermuseum, left) here in Toronto celebrated its 30th birthday this week by opening its doors for free and hosting a pile of interesting events. This exquisite, boutique museum, dedicated to ceramics, is a must-see for locals and visitors alike.

The Gardiner is also presenting the exhibition, Ron Thom and the Allied Arts. Ron Thom was one of Canada's greatest architects. WMSC members might remember a very fine lecture on his work a few years ago, and a tour of Massey College, which he designed with strong Arts and Crafts influences. The Gardiner's exhibition is open now and runs til April 27.

~ The ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) has announced Around 1914: Design in a New Age. From March 29 of this year until March 21, 2015, this original exhibit showcases the ROM’s decorative arts collections including works by Jensen, Tiffany, Lloyd Wright, Bugatti, Knox, Dresser and Hoffmann. There will also be a Decorative Arts Symposium, April 10 and 11, which looks unmissable. Check it out here.

~ Just in case you're in the area of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Motawi Tileworks is conducting a tour on March 29. They'll visit tile installations in and around Ann Arbor including the home of owner Nawal Motawi. Here's a sample of what you'll see!

~ Thank you to WMSC member and tweeter @LeraKotsyuba for pointing us to this exciting bit of news of recently discovered Pre-Raphaelite-inspired artwork.

~ The Guardian reported that in May, Sotheby's will be auctioning Rossetti's painting Pandora, 1871 (for which Jane Morris was the model). It is predicted that it will break previous sales records for a Rossetti work.

~ Our friends at the William Morris Society (U.S.) tweeted that Arts and Crafts Tours is leading a three-day architectural exploration of Chicago. This tour was requested by The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms for their members. WMSC members will remember our own fantastic tour there in 2008. There are some elements that we didn't cover and, anyway, it's never too early to revisit some of these remarkable sites.

~ This week, in celebration of World Book Day (and in preparation for this year's William Morris birthday cake) we tweeted this picture of our Art of the Book cake for our symposium a few years ago. Watch this space for a retrospective of past cakes and a reportage of this year's cake!

The Week in Morris (and More)

This week we were so excited to read that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is mounting an exhibit, The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy: British Art and Design from the Metropolitan's Collection. This runs from May 20 to October 26 of this year.

"Some thirty works from across the Museum's collections - including paintings, drawings, furniture, textiles, prints, and illustrated books, many of them rarely on view and united for the first time - will demonstrate the enduring impact of Pre-Raphaelite ideals as they were adapted by different artists and developed across a range of media. At a time of renewed appreciation for art of the Victorian age, the installation will direct fresh attention toward the Metropolitan's little-known holdings in this important area." The exhibition is made possible by the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust.

An adjunct exhibit will be William Morris: Textiles and Wallpaper, from February 3 to July 20.

~ As Toronto emerges from another polar vortex, and more snow falls, it's nice to know spring is happening somewhere! Click here for a lovely picture of the daffodils emerging at Red House. And click here to see the front door of Red House, through which visitors are now entering, something they haven't been able to do for ten years!

~ The British Council hosted a "Twitter Tour" of the Jeremy Deller exhibit, English Magic at the William Morris Gallery. You can experience it after the fact, right here.

~ Get a fashion/Morris fix right here, in a delicious video for a past exhibit at the V&A, The Cult of Beauty.

~ And, for an "awww" moment, here's a beautiful red setter, laying on his colour co-ordinated chair.

The image at the top is borrowed from the Met's site: Sir Edward Burne-Jones (British, Birmingham 1833–1898 Fulham). The Love Song, 1868–77. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Alfred N. Punnett Endowment Fund, 1947 (47.26)

Re-discovered Treasures and The Week on Twitter

As noted on the William Morris Society (UK) website, an exciting discovery has been made in an attic room of Kelmscott House

RE-DISCOVERED TREASURES: Morris and Co. Embroidery Designs
Exhibition: 14th November 2013 - 13th February 2014

Re-discovered after many years, our current exhibition is of 10 previously unknown and unseen beautiful drawings for embroidery designs from Morris and Co.

The drawings were originally discovered in an attic room of Kelmscott House, Hammersmith and then disappeared before being brought back to the William Morris Society premises in the coach house of Kelmscott House This exhibition allows us an opportunity to have another fresh glimpse at the prolific creativity of Morris and his fellow designers whilst further research is currently underway to identify the pieces breathing new life into these newly re-discovered gems.


And on Twitter this week:

~ Kelmscott Manor has a very active YouTube channel! So much to see... check it out here.

~ The William Morris Gallery updated their "What's On" page on their website.

~ Red House is justly proud of their newly acquired Philip Webb water jug and tweeted a picture of it. They're also repainting (by brush) rooms so that they appear as they would have in Morris's time. Out with the white, in with the mustard!

And Morris gets the final word:

~The University of Maryland's Special Collections exhibit of Morris tweets as "How We Might Live" @WmMorrisUMD. They often quote the highly quotable Morris and this week a particular favourite was:

"No man is good enough to be another's master."

What he said!

Photography Lecture and the Week on Twitter

Diane Waggoner from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, visited the WMSC last Wednesday to give a lecture, Photography and Pre-Raphaelitism. Gorgeously illustrated, it provided fascinating links between the early days of photography and the PRB. There was a good crowd in room 179 at University College and later they enjoyed refreshments in the lovely Croft Chapter House. Pictured left are Diane and WMSC president Susan Pekilis.

We'll be back at this favourite venue for our day-long symposium in March. Have you registered?

As for Morris-related news, here's just some of the action on Twitter during the last week:

~ At the National Gallery of Art in Ottawa, an exhibition opened titled John Ruskin, Artist and Observer. It runs until May 11.

~ The always-interesting Tony Pinkney blogged about Capitalism and Climate Chaos. Here's the link to his blog.

~ William Morris's birthday was March 24, and it is celebrated annually by his admirers. While we at the WMSC will be celebrating here in Canada on March 22, the UK Society is hosting a fascinating talk given by Jan Marsh and Frank Sharp on recently discovered letters from Jane Morris "which radically revise the popular view of a silent, discontented invalid and reveal the range of her interests and opinions." Can't wait to hear more!

~ You can enjoy flipping through the online version of the Kelmscott Press edition of Morris's News from Nowhere, on the Morris Online Edition, courtesy of the William Morris Society (U.S.)

~  And check this out! An advetnure for children, but I`m sure many adults will be compelled to read it: Time and Tapestry, a William Morris Adventure.

The Week on Twitter

~ We at WMSC wished the twitterverse a Happy New Chinese Year of the Horse with this delightful Burne-Jones cartoon of Morris atop an Icelandic horse

~ The Island Wool Company blogged about Morris's trip to the Faroes, with some excerpts from his journal

~ From @boccabaciata, a photograph from the Harry Potter studio tour, which includes portraits of Tennyson and Morris

~ Kelmscott Manor is launching an Artist or Craft-maker in Residence. The Residency embodies the influence Kelmscott had on Morris and his associates, and reflects its relevance to a modern audience. 

~ A selection of articles on the Pre-Raphaelites on the Smarthistory site

AND...

The William Morris Gallery won the public voting stage of Connect10, a competition that teams up winning venues with 10 artists to run an event during Museums at Night. Kelvyn Smith, AKA Mr. Smith and his Letter Press Workshop will be appearing at the Gallery over the weekend of Thursday, May 15 to Saturday, May 17. Under Mr Smith’s expert guidance gallery visitors will use traditional type to create personal and political slogans that mean something to them. To set the mood they'll start the evening with a dramatic performance of one of Morris’s socialist chants. Keep checking the gallery's website for more details.

Pre-Raphaelite Themed MLA 2015 in Vancouver

Of major interest to us in Canada is MLA 2015 (Modern Language Association), The Pre-Raphaelites: The Ecological and the Oceanic. This will take place next January in Vancouver. A Call for Papers has been sent out:

MLA 2015, Vancouver, Canada

January 8-11, 2015

Deadline: March 15, 2014

1. Papers are sought for a session co-sponsored by the William Morris Society and the Old Norse Discussion Group on any aspect of William Morris and his associates in relation to Old Norse topics: literary, linguistic, artistic, biographical or political, ranging from pre-historic origins to the present day. Please send abstracts and C.V. by March 15, 2014 to bryane@mst.edu and florence-boos@uiowa.edu.

2. "The Pre-Raphaelites: The Ecological and the Oceanic" The William Morris Society will also sponsor a panel on "The Pre-Raphaelites: The Ecological and the Oceanic."  For this we seek papers on the Pre-Raphaelites, Morris and ecological concerns, the environment, ‘green’ politics, and/or oceanic journeys, Morris’s influence in Asia and Oceania, or trans-Pacific approaches to Pre-Raphaelite studies. Please send abstracts for proposals by March 15, 2014 to florence-boos@uiowa.edu.

An Anniversary and the Week in Twitter

Today is the 100th anniversary of Jane Morris's death. There have been lectures, portrait exhibitions and the internet is a-buzz with tributes to the remarkable stunner, muse, wife, mother and lover.

On this day in London, Peter Faulkner is giving a talk on Jane at the William Morris Gallery in London. The gallery is also looking for more volunteers to help them out in their many wonderful activities; they're holding open days on January 31 and February 1.

Last Thursday Jan Marsh also gave a talk on Jane Morris at the National Portrait gallery. Their display, Janey Morris: Pre-Raphaelite Muse, continues until May 11... in case you happen to find yourself in London!

... and you can enjoy Jane, along with Rossetti, fighing aliens in a graphic novel. Finally! Find out more here.

And from Twitter this week:

~ The William Morris Society (UK) is looking for a project manager. It sounds intriguing. Read more here.

~ Jeremy Deller's Morris-inspired English Magic exhibition comes to the William Morris Gallery until March 30, after which it travels to Bristol and Margate. Watch this video on BBC for more.

~ And, a final Jane Morris tribute, a poem by Sarah Doyle, inspired by Morris's claim that he couldn't paint her, but he loved her.

You can keep up to date on what's happening out there by following us on Twitter. Or just check back in here!