Illustration: John Henry Dearle. Embroidered portiere, 1910.
By 1910, though beautiful, this embroidered hanging produced by John Henry Dearle for the company of Morris & Co, had become largely irrelevant as a design style. Much of this type of work was rapidly becoming obsolete and was often confined to the sentimental decor of the nursery.
By the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, much of the output of Morris & Co was either being by-passed by the general public with their short term fascination with the French and Belgian inspired Art Nouveau movement, or was struggling to come to terms with the more formidable challenge posed by the ideas and philosophies of Modernism in both the art and design worlds. A movement that was to come to dominate the differing decorative and artistic styles of the twentieth century.
William Morris, in many respects the head of the Arts & Crafts movement in Britain, had died in 1896, making John Henry Dearle effectively the head of Morris & Co. The company did survive Morris' death as well as Dearle's, and continued until 1940. However, it was never to regain the popularity that it had achieved under Morris. Admittedly, this had much to do with the company being so closely associated with their founder, so that even if the company had been willing to attempt to introduce a new generation of designer into its workshops, it would have been a hard struggle to counteract the dominating philosophy and character that the shadow of Morris placed over the company, right up to its demise.
The new generation of British artists and designers that could have breathed new life into Morris & Co, but ultimately challenged and then swept away the often cosy, but fast fading world of the nineteenth century, could probably be summed up by a reference to the Omega Workshops, under Roger Fry. The workshops were set up a mere three years after the embroidered panel was produced by Dearle. They had an entirely different outlook to Morris & Co. They were often considered to be haphazard and eclectic in style and merchandise, but had a charm and youthful enthusiasm and a passion for the untried and the untested, with Fry always having an eye on the new and the novel.
Fry and his group of young artists and designers were well aware that this was no longer the nineteenth century, and while their work had its roots in that century, they were not prepared to pay uncritical homage to it, or even to look wistfully back as Morris & Co seemed to be intent on doing. The new century had new ideas and new challenges, some of which were dead ends and some never materialised. However, the enthusiasm of looking forward was intoxicating, and although many of the buying public were still hesitant about the new century and its gifts, a significant minority were prepared to indulge the novelty and excitement of the new ideas in both art and design. As that minority got larger, those like the Omega Workshops that were supplying those new fresh approaches, flourished.
Perhaps Dearle's large embroidered piece produced in the grand nineteenth century tradition of the British Arts & Crafts style, can be seen as one last defiant stand against both the new century and its burgeoning new ideas, that Dearle and Morris & Co often felt at odds with. Perhaps more importantly it also highlights the problems the company had in connecting, or finding common ground, not only with the new generation of talented artists and designers, but more importantly, the younger generation of consumers who largely felt little or no affinity with Morris or his company.
By the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, much of the output of Morris & Co was either being by-passed by the general public with their short term fascination with the French and Belgian inspired Art Nouveau movement, or was struggling to come to terms with the more formidable challenge posed by the ideas and philosophies of Modernism in both the art and design worlds. A movement that was to come to dominate the differing decorative and artistic styles of the twentieth century.
William Morris, in many respects the head of the Arts & Crafts movement in Britain, had died in 1896, making John Henry Dearle effectively the head of Morris & Co. The company did survive Morris' death as well as Dearle's, and continued until 1940. However, it was never to regain the popularity that it had achieved under Morris. Admittedly, this had much to do with the company being so closely associated with their founder, so that even if the company had been willing to attempt to introduce a new generation of designer into its workshops, it would have been a hard struggle to counteract the dominating philosophy and character that the shadow of Morris placed over the company, right up to its demise.
The new generation of British artists and designers that could have breathed new life into Morris & Co, but ultimately challenged and then swept away the often cosy, but fast fading world of the nineteenth century, could probably be summed up by a reference to the Omega Workshops, under Roger Fry. The workshops were set up a mere three years after the embroidered panel was produced by Dearle. They had an entirely different outlook to Morris & Co. They were often considered to be haphazard and eclectic in style and merchandise, but had a charm and youthful enthusiasm and a passion for the untried and the untested, with Fry always having an eye on the new and the novel.
Fry and his group of young artists and designers were well aware that this was no longer the nineteenth century, and while their work had its roots in that century, they were not prepared to pay uncritical homage to it, or even to look wistfully back as Morris & Co seemed to be intent on doing. The new century had new ideas and new challenges, some of which were dead ends and some never materialised. However, the enthusiasm of looking forward was intoxicating, and although many of the buying public were still hesitant about the new century and its gifts, a significant minority were prepared to indulge the novelty and excitement of the new ideas in both art and design. As that minority got larger, those like the Omega Workshops that were supplying those new fresh approaches, flourished.
Perhaps Dearle's large embroidered piece produced in the grand nineteenth century tradition of the British Arts & Crafts style, can be seen as one last defiant stand against both the new century and its burgeoning new ideas, that Dearle and Morris & Co often felt at odds with. Perhaps more importantly it also highlights the problems the company had in connecting, or finding common ground, not only with the new generation of talented artists and designers, but more importantly, the younger generation of consumers who largely felt little or no affinity with Morris or his company.
Illustration: Vanessa Bell. Maud, 1913.
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