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Earthly Paradise examines the cultural and social contributions of the Pre-Raphaelites and the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'william morris'
“Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago”
“Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago” is a new exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago celebrating the Arts and Crafts movement. For those of you who would love to see Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "Beata Beatrix" in the flesh,...
Imperishable Beauty at the Cincinnati Art Museum
For those of you in the Ohio area, there's a new exhibit of Arts Nouveau Jewellery at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Entitled "Imperishable Beauty," the exhibit opened November 17, 2009, and features jewellery designed by René Lalique, Henri Vever, Phil...
Pre-Raphaelite Christmas Stamps Released by Royal Mail
The Royal Mail has released a lovely set of Pre-Raphaelite stamps in time for the holiday season. The collection was chosen by designer Andrew Ross, who examined stained glass from churches throughout England in order to compile the artwork for the s...
William Morris Fan Club
Thank you so much for all of your comments on my previous post! I have been rather occupied with my baby girl this week, but I did find the time to discover a new site that I think will be of interest to readers of this blog. William Morris Fan Club ...
Victoria and Albert Museum's William Morris Print Book
The Victoria and Albert Museum has announced publication of a new William Morris Pattern Book. The book will come with a CD of the pattern images, so that designers can be free to research and modify the designs as they choose.The collection was put ...
Liberty London Shows Flair for Fashion
Liberty & Co. has long been associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. William Morris' prints have become almost synonymous with the famous London shop, and Oscar Wilde once commented that Liberty was the “the chosen resort of the artistic shopp...
William Morris and Islamic Art
Journalist Navid Akhtar has taken an opportunity to examine the influence that Islamic design had on William Morris.Akhtar argues that Morris' designs are "inextricably linked to the curving sinuous arabesques of traditional Islamic Art," pointing ou...
BBC 4 The Pre Raphaelites
For those of you living in the UK, the BBC has released a 3-part documentary series on the Pre-Raphaelites to coincide with Desperate Romantics. Since Desperate Romantics is rather short on historical context, be sure to watch the documentary alongsi...
Joke Written by George Bernard Shaw about William Morris Unearthed after 79 Years
BBC News reported yesterday that a researcher has discovered a joke written by playwright George Bernard Shaw in honour of the opening in 1930 of the Hall at William Morris House in Wimbledon. The joke was found written in Shaw's hand on a photograph...
Prince Charles Declines to Renew his Patronage of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings
His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, who has been patron of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) since the death of the Queen Mother, has withdrawn his support after a difference of opinion with the members of the society's board...
Pre-Raphaelite Art at the Delaware Art Museum
I'm always on the lookout for great Pre-Raphaelite art online, and yesterday I came across the Delaware Art Museum's fabulous Pre-Raphaelite art gallery, which features the collection of Samuel and Mary Bancroft. The Delaware Art Museum has the large...
Desperate Romantics by Franny Moyle
Franny Moyle's new book, Desperate Romantics, catalogues the lives and loves of the Pre-Raphaelites, while occasionally touching on their art. The book, which serves as the inspiration for the upcoming BBC miniseries of the same name, sounds like it ...
Waltham Forest Council announces Plan to Restore Land Around the William Morris Gallery
The Waltham Forest Council has unveiled plans to help restore the land around the William Morris Gallery. The good news is that they will be working to restore historic planting areas around the gallery and working to repair the bridge from the histo...
La Vie en Rose: The Middle Ages through Rose-Coloured Glasses
Nostalgia always brings with it a certain amount of selective memory. We idealise the past because we remember the best and forget the rest. But is this really such a bad thing? The 19th century medieval popularised by William Morris and the Pre-Raph...
The End of an Era--Spode Begins Overseas Production of Blue Italian, Then Goes Bankrupt
I've collected Spode Blue Italian since I was ten years old. I have some pretty interesting pieces in my collection, like the Cheese Wedge Dish that I begged for--and received from my dear mother--for high school graduation. People might have thought...
Possessed: Announcing a New Pre-Raphaelite Musical!
What do you get when you combine Pre-Raphaelite art, an infamous love affair, and music? Possessed is a new musical that examines the life of Jane Burden, from her discovery by Dante Gabriel Rossetti to her meteoric rise to become one of the most pop...
Title Page of the Kelmscott Chaucer
The Kelmscott edition of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is considered by many specialists in antiquarian books to be one of the finest works of English book production. Without a dout it certainly was the most impressive achievement of Morris' Kelmsco...
William Morris' La Belle Iseult
La Belle Iseult is the only painting by William Morris that exists today. The subject of the painting is Tristram's lover Iseult, and it was painted around the same time that his first book of poetry, The Defence of Guenevere , was published. It is p...
Sanderson Fabrics
This lovely living room has been decorated using Sanderson's beautiful floral fabrics. If the designs seem familiar, it's because their patterns are copied or "adapted" by a number of other design firms. I suppose imitation is the sincerest form of f...
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was originally founded in 1877 by William Morris and several leading members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Affectionately referred to by Morris and his pals as "Anti-Scrape," the society was fo...
Decorative Arts at the Musee D'Orsay
As I continue chronicling my visit to Paris earlier this month, I thought I'd take a moment to revisit the Musee D'Orsay and tell you a bit about their great collection of decorative arts. I guess you can tell I've swallowed William Morris' philosoph...
A Few Newly Discovered Websites
I hope everyone had a good weekend! I've been insanely busy editing my thesis for the past several weeks, and it looks like this week will be the craziest so far. Today I thought I'd introduce a couple of blogs that I've come across in the past coupl...
William Morris' Daisy Wallpaper
Morris designed both Daisy and Trellis in the early 1860s while he and his family were living at Red House, thought the designs were not officially registered until February 1864. Morris and Company was in its very early stages at that time and so th...
Gothic Revival in Architecture and Augustus Welby Pugin
The Gothic Revival in architecture was one of the cornerstones of the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts movements. And while many people familiar with the Arts and Crafts movement associate Gothic Revival with Ruskin and Morris, Augustus Welby Pugin...
William Morris and Acanthus
When I think of William Morris, one of the first things that pops to mind is the acanthus plant. Acanthus leaves are one of the most popular decorative motifs in Arts and Crafts design, and they have been used extensively since the time of the ancien...
Rocker Jimmy Page will be Keeping his Morris Tapestry for Now
Several of you asked about what Jimmy Page's William Morris tapestry (designed by Edward Burne-Jones) sold for at auction last month. I've been checking back at Sotheby's regularly and it turns out that it didn't sell. Although many other items in th...
Wren and Willow Interior Decorating and Design
Flipping through the pages of magazines like House and Garden and Architectural Diegest, I'm always disappointed at the showiness and general disposability of most home decor. If you watch decorators on the House and Garden network, it always seems p...
Petition on Behalf of William Morris Gallery
Edward Burne Jones' Holy Grail Tapestry (discussed in yesterday's post) is set to go to auction this evening. It's presence at the auction has caused quite a stir, and fans of William Morris' art have decided to use the recent media publicity that th...
Voluntary Simplicity
I've been thinking about voluntary simplicity a lot for the past couple of days, except I wasn't aware of an actual movement. It started with a conversation my husband and I had about "affluenza." We both love beautiful things and want a lovely home,...
Tasha Tudor
One of my favourite memories from childhood is of reading Tasha Tudor's beautifully illustrated books with my Mom. Some of my favourites were A Time to Keep, A is for Annabelle, Mother Goose, 1 is One and The Tasha Tudor Book of Fairy Tales--my favou...
