Museum Exhibition
Morris and Company: The Business of Beauty
Art Institute of Chicago
December 18, 2021 – June 13, 2022
This exhibition of textiles and wallpaper by Morris and Co., drawn primarily from the Art Institute's significant holdings, explores the longevity of the company's design aesthetic, highlighting favored techniques as well as Chicago area sites where the work of Morris and his contemporaries appeared.
Exhibition artworks
Representative work
Sir Edward Burne-Jones
Pomona
Figure design 1882, background design 1898, made 1906
Cotton, wool, and silk, slit and double interlocking tapestry weave
92.9 × 165.1 cm (36 1/2 × 65 in.)
View artwork at the museumFeatured works
William Morris
Strawberry Thief
Design 1883, made 1883–1917
Cotton; plain weave, block printed, wool trim with tassels
283 × 106 cm (111 1/2 × 41 3/4 in.); Repeat: 50.9 × 46 cm (20 × 18 1/8 in.)
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William Morris
Snakeshead
Design 1876, made 1925–40
Cotton, plain weave; block printed
69.9 × 96.5 cm (27 1/2 × 38 in.); Repeat: 32.2 × 21.5 cm (12 3/4 × 8 1/2 in.)
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William Morris
Marigold
Design 1875, made 1917–25
Cotton, plain weave; block printed
a: 72 × 48.5 cm (28 3/8 × 19 1/8 in.); Repeat: 22.8 × 22.8 cm (9 × 9 in.)
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May Morris
Border for a Table Cover or Valance
Design 1890s
Cotton, plain weave; embroidered with silk in satin, surface satin, and stem stitches; laid work and couching
Overall: 43.5 × 274.3 cm (17 1/8 × 108 in.); Image: 26.7 × 233 cm (10 1/2 × 91 3/4 in.)
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William Morris
Flowerpot Fire Screen
Design early 1880s
Wood, cotton or linen ground, silk floss
101.6 × 59.7 × 32.4 cm (40 × 23 1/2 × 12 3/4 in.)
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Probably Florence, Italy
Fragment of Velvet
1401–50
Silk and gilt-metal-strip-wrapped silk, warp-float faced 4:1 satin weave with supplementary brocading wefts bound by main warps in weft-float faced 1:2 'Z' twill interlacings and with supplementary pile warps forming cut voided velvet
65.8 × 49.9 cm (27 7/8 × 19 5/8 in.); Weft repeat: H.: 19 cm (7 1/2 in.)
View at museum14 documented works in this exhibition
View all 14 documented works