British Studies 497c
WILLIAM MORRIS: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CRAFT
Professor Edward S. Cooke, Jr.
Department of the History of Art
e-mail: <edward.cooke@yale.edu>
Class meetings: Monday, Wednesday, 10:00-12:30, PMC classroom or in the field
Office hours: by appointment
Course Rationale
William Morris (1834-1896), the legendary British arts and crafts activist, was a
prolific writer and doer. At various points in his life he was celebrated as a writer,
painter, designer, craftsman, socialist, preservationist, and historian. He wrote prose and
essays throughout his life, but he also became an accomplished dyer, weaver, printer, and
designer. In the late nineteenth century, his influence was substantial but his stature has
fragmented or even declined over the course of the twentieth. His designs for wallpaper,
textiles, and books have been most enduring. Arts and Crafts enthusiasts always cite him
but have rarely read much of his writings or have a full command of his activities. Some
subsequent scholars, such as Nikolaus Pevsner, have celebrated him as a proto-modernist,
while others, such as Jackson Lears, portray him as an antimodernist. Yet familiarity
with the full range of Morris’s activities reveals that his influence has been considerable
in the subsequent practice and theorizing of the decorative arts. It was Morris who
articulated the view that craft, the act of pleasurable skilled work, could be both a form of
art and a form of political activism. Taking full advantage of resources in the London
and Oxford area, this seminar will consider the full measure of Morris, provide a sense of
his context, and explore his influence in the twentieth century.
Course Requirements
The seminar will require weekly reading, a short 1- or 2-paragraph reading
response for each week, a 15-minute oral presentation on a specific figure or subject
chosen at the first meeting of the class, active discussion and participation in class and on
field trips, and a 5-7 page research paper on a specific Morris object of your choosing
(from the collections at the V & A, the William Morris Gallery, or the British Library).
Please consult with me during the third week to talk about this.
Course Readings
The PMC Library has a good selection of Morris’s writings, but I would
encourage you to purchase five books: Linda Perry, ed., William Morris (New York:
Abrams, 1996), Diane Waggoner, ed., The Beauty of Life: William Morris & The Art of
Design (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2003), Imogen Hart, Arts and Crafts Objects
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010); Clive Wilmer, ed., William Morris,
News From Nowhere and Other Writings (New York: Penguin, 1994); and Fiona
MacCarthy, Anarchy & Beauty: William Morris and His Legacy, 1860-1960 (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 2014). The Parry and Wilmot volumes will be particularly
useful to have on your shelf. Books assigned for reading will also be in the PMC
Library. All of the important article length readings can be found on e-reserve through
the classesv2 page for the class; these readings are marked with a [~].
Helpful biographies of Morris include J. W. Mackail, The Life of William Morris
(London: Longmans, 1899); E.P. Thompson, William Morris: Romantic to Revolutionary
(1955; New York: Pantheon, 1976), and Fiona MacCarthy, A Life for Our Time (New
York: Knopf, 1995). For additional bibliographical leads, see David Latham and Sheila
Latham, An Annotated Critical Bibliography of William Morris (New York: St. Martin’s
Press, 1991) and the Journal of the William Morris Society. Helpful compilations are
May Morris’s twenty-four volume Collected Works of William Morris and a website with
many of his articles, www.marxists.org/archive/morris/index.htm. Another helpful
website is that of the William Morris Society: http://www.morrissociety.org/.
June 9
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Introduction (class will be at 2 pm)
Readings:
Linda Parry, ed., William Morris (New York: Abrams, 1996), pp. 12-31.
Diane Waggoner, ed., The Beauty of Life: William Morris & The Art of Design
(New York: Thames & Hudson, 2003), pp. 21-31.
Fiona MacCarthy, Anarchy & Beauty: William Morris and His Legacy, 18601960 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014), pp. 8-17.
June 10
Design Reform in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century
Field Trip: Victoria & Albert Museum (meet at Cromwell Road entrance at 10
am; 10 to 12:30 in the British Galleries; 12:30 lunch together in the Green Dining
Room)
Readings:
 Parry, pp. 352-61.
 Imogen Hart, Arts and Crafts Objects (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
2010), pp. 31-66.
 John Ruskin, “The Nature of Gothic” in The Stones of Venice (1851-53; reprint
ed., London: Smith Elder and Company, 1874), vol. 2, pp. 151-231. [~]
 Look at A.W.N. Pugin, Contrasts (1836; reprint ed., Edinburgh: John Grant,
1898). [~]
Topics of Focus: Henry Cole, Owen Jones, Gothic Court, Green Dining Room
June 15
Morris and the Pre-Raphaelite Circle
Readings:
 Parry, pp. 32-48 and 89-105.
 Timothy Barringer, Reading the Pre-Raphaelites (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1999), pp. 6-53. [~]
Topics of Focus: Thomas Malory, Morte d’Arthur (ca. 1470); Dante Rossetti
June 17
The Pre-Raphaelite Life Style
Field Trip: Red House
Readings:
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Selections from Peter Faulkner, ed., William Morris: Selected Poems (New York:
Routledge, 2002), pp. 32-45, 51-58, 90-98, 146, and 156 (“King Arthur’s Tomb,”
“Concerning Geffray Teste Noire,” the months from “The Earthly Paradise,”
“Mine and Thine,” and “For the Bed at Kelmscott”). [~]
William Morris, “The Story of the Unknown Church” (1856) in Clive Wilmer,
ed., William Morris, News From Nowhere and Other Writings (New York:
Penguin, 1994), pp. 3-13.
Esmé Whittaker, “Reading the Walls: William Morris and the Art of Storytelling”
in William Morris: Story, Memory, Myth (London: Two Temple Place, 2011), pp.
7-27. [~]
MacCarthy, pp. 18-37.
Topics of Focus: Philip Webb, Edward Burne-Jones
June 22
The High Game and the Business
Field Trip: Cambridge University
Readings:
 Parry, pp. 49-57.
 Waggoner, pp. 33-87.
 Hart, pp. 112-47.
 Familiarize yourself with Parry, pp. 106-295.
Topics of Focus: Morris stained glass; Morris tiles
June 24
Morris on Craft
Readings:
 William Morris, “The Lesser Arts” (1877) and “Some Hints on Pattern
Designing” (1881) in Wilmer, pp. 233-83.
 “Lesser Arts of Life” (1882). [~]
 “Textile Fabrics” (1884). [~]
 “Art and Industry in the 14th Century” (1890). [~]
 “The Arts and Crafts of Today” (1889). [~]
 “Revival of Handicraft” (1888). [~]
 “Art and Its Producers” (1888). [~]
Topics of Focus: Morris textiles, Morris wallpapers
June 29
Ornament and Story: The Book Arts
Field Trip: Emery Walker House and Kelmscott House in Hammersmith
Readings:
 Waggoner, pp. 88-97.
 Parry, pp. 296-341.
 Hart, pp. 67-111.
 Aileen Webb, “7 Hammersmith Terrace, London: The Last Arts and Crafts
Interior,” The Decorative Arts Society 1850 to the Present Journal 28 (2004):
184-203. [~]
 William Morris, “A Note by William Morris on His Aims in Founding the
Kelmscott Press” (1896) in Wilmer, pp. 385-90.
Topics of Focus: Emery Walker, Doves Press, T. J. Cobden Sanderson
July 1
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Morris and Artisanal Socialism
Field Trip: William Morris Gallery
Readings:
Stephen Eisenman, “Communism in Furs: A Dream of Prehistory in William
Morris’s John Ball,” in The Art Bulletin 87, no. 1 (March 2005), pp. 92-110. [~]
Caroline Arscott, “William Morris: Decoration and Materialism,” in Andrew
Hemingway, ed., Marxism and the History of Art: From William Morris to the
New Left (London: Pluto Press, 2006), pp. 9-27 and 225-30.
William Morris, “Art and Socialism” (1884). [~]
William Morris, “How I Became a Socialist” (1894) in Wilmer, pp. 379-83.
William Morris, “Useful Work vs. Useless Toil” (1884) in Wilmer, pp. 287-306.
July 6-8
Long Field Trip--Utopian Crafts: News From Nowhere
Field Trip: Kelmscott Manor, St. John the Baptist in Inglesham, Buscot Park,
Oxford, Cheltenham, Chipping Camden.
Readings:
 William Morris, News From Nowhere: or, an Epoch of Rest (1891) in Wilmer,
William Morris, News From Nowhere and Other Writings.
Topics of Focus: C. R. Ashbee; Ernest Gimson, Oxford Union Debating Hall
July 13
Morris’s Legacy: Preservation
Readings:
 Parry, pp. 72-87.
 Chris Miele, ed., From William Morris: Building Conservation and the Arts and
Crafts Cult of Authenticity, 1877-1939 (New Haven: Yale University Press,
2005), pp. 30-65. [~]
 William Morris, “Westminster Abbey” (1893). [~]
 William Morris, “The Influence of Building Materials Upon Architecture” (1891).
[~]
 William Morris, “External Covering of Roofs” (1890). [~].
Topics of Focus: Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.
July 14
Morris’s Legacy: Organizations and Inspiration (class meets at 2 pm)
Readings:
 Hart, pp. 148-213
 Tanya Harrod, The Crafts in Britain in the 20th Century (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1999), pp. 15-28. [~]
 MacCarthy, pp. 92-107.
 Edward S. Cooke, Jr., “The Long Shadow of William Morris: Paradigmatic
Problems of Twentieth-Century American Furniture,” in Luke Beckerdite, ed.,
American Furniture 2003 (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England,
2003), pp. 213-37. [~].
Topics of Focus: Walter Crane, W. R. Lethaby, Omega Worshops
July 16
Final Papers Due electronically or at PMC by 5 pm
Grading will be based on the following means of assessment
1. Class participation, meaning your verbal engagement either in class or on field
visits, giving evidence of background reading and intelligent observation. (20% of
your final grade)
2. Reading responses (20% of your final grade)
3. Your oral presentation (20% of your final grade)
4. A research paper of about 5-7 pages on a subject you choose in discussion with
Professor Cooke (40% of your final grade)