Online talk: At Home with Jane and William Morris

February 13, 2021 15.00-16.00

Curator & writer Suzanne Fagence Cooper shares research from her forthcoming book, ‘At Home with Jane & William Morris’.

In the summer of 1860, Jane and William Morris, pioneers of the Arts and Crafts movement, moved into their brand-new home, Red House in Kent. For five busy years, their home was a gathering place for artists, poets and architects. Suzanne’s talk explores the Morris’s remarkable partnership and how the friendships forged in these early years transformed British art and design.

William and Jane pioneered alternative ways of home-making. They asked tough questions about making, buying and selling. William set about revolutionising how Victorian houses were furnished. And Jane, by transforming herself and her domestic surroundings, showed how the home could be a creative space, a source of intellectual and physical refreshment.

For both, the garden was an essential part of home and every Spring was an adventure. Jane wrote from Italy, later in life: ‘they tell me that flowers are coming up in the garden, and blossom on fruit trees.’ This sense of possibility, of new growth, of fruitfulness was woven through all their schemes for their life together.

Attendance is by donation; we thank you for your support during this difficult time.