Review: May Morris Designs

 May Morris seems to be having a bit of a moment.  Not only is she the subject of various exhibitions (especially this one, wombats ahoy!) but I was delighted to be sent a new book on her work to review...

I'm always at home for Miss Morris and so the arrival of a book concentrating on her talents is a very welcome addition to my library. I concede that she can occasionally be overshadowed in light of her father's all conquering presence in the Arts and Crafts scene (not to mention literature) but just because her father was spectacular, doesn't mean that May didn't move the world herself, especially when it came to embroidery.

Westward Ho! (1885) Jane and May Morris

She was undoubtedly a brilliant practitioner, but it was design that May felt was 'the very soul and essence of beautiful embroidery,' which is where I feel that May should be credited with elevating the art of needlework. Early in her career, May was praised in reviews of her work as being an authority on the subject of embroidery as well as a writer, designer and actual practitioner. May's approach to her work, thorough and intellectual as well as artistic, is demonstrated in her pieces that echo with previous eras in their style, colours and choices. She began writing on the subject from 1888, aged only 26, continuing until after the First World War. Her contribution to the Art Needlework movement, a guidebook to decorative needlework published in 1893, was powerful and displayed not only her desire to create but also to help others create.

Within Lynn Hulse's new book, we can see where May's talent and passion came from.  There is not only her father's work, but also that by her mother Jane and her aunt, Elizabeth Burden, who was also instrumental in her artistic education. It is clear that the individuals that all contributed to May's needlework built an individual who not only could produce beautiful work but also explain her process. For May, a good piece was built by the choice of colours, the invention in the choice of stitches, suitable materials and good design based on historical and non-western ornament, with a good dose of nature thrown in. She contended you could have a brilliant design and get away with not brilliant stitches but even the most perfect needlework couldn't save a bad design.

Bed-Hangings (1917) designed by May Morris

Lynn Hulse's book gives some fascinating detail in building a picture of May's journey to expert. On her 20th birthday, May received John Gerard's The Herball (1633) filled with line-drawn plants. It is easy to speculate on the influence this must have had on her work (not to mention her father's) with the depiction of nature as both realistic and artistic in the same breath. I was interested in the term 'non-western ornament' but Hulse looks at the opening up of Japan in the 1850s and the impact that had on the artistic life of England. There is description of the Middle Eastern textiles that the Morris family used in their home and which provided inspiration for the family. I also found May's comments against 'truth to nature' very interesting as she disliked some artists tendency to just 'copy some spray or bough directly from nature' rather than to design it, creating balance and rhythm within the space.

Autumn (1894) May Morris

I was aware of some of May's works, I've seen them in books and exhibitions, but concentrating on just her designs shows you exactly how many pieces she produced, not to mention their richness and complexity. Not only that, but May's wisdom on things like dying threads with natural dyes, such as madder and indigo, proved a revolt against the modern and synthetic. Mind you, despite romancing the past, there are definite aspects of May's work that foreshadow the future with hints at Art Deco, for example in this bag that May and her sister Jenny made for William's Medieval Psalter...

May Morris Designs is a glorious book which illuminates not only May's professional and artistic life but also the history of Art Embroidery and its importance. The talent and time that went into these pieces that deify household items shows how art can be domestic and the every-day household can be elevated to a masterpiece. Hulse's book shows that May was a force to be reckoned with in terms of her intelligence and dedication to not only her own work but encouraging and enabling others to produce beautiful work too.  In that spirit, at the back of the book (and on the website) there are some of May's patterns to use in embroidery of your own, which I will defintely be giving a try.  Come on, let's make May proud...

May Morris Designs: The Essence and Soul of Beautiful Embroidery is available now from the Ashmolean and all good bookshops now.