William Morris

English craftsman, poet, and early socialist, whose designs generated the Arts and Crafts Movement in the later half of the1900th century. Morris encouraged to return to handmade objects and rejected standard tastes. He was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and a close friend of the painter-poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his sister Christina Rossetti, also a poet.

William Morris was born in Walthamstow, Greater London, son of a successful business man.
He attended Marlborough College in 1848-51
1853 he entered Exeter College, Oxford, where he met Edward Burne-Jones and Charles Faulkner.
1856 Morris began his studies in architecture.
Morris's early poems were published in The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine - he also financed the publication.
In 1858 Morris worked with Rossetti, Burne-Jones, and others on the frescoes in the Oxford Union. He published THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE AND OTHER POEMS (1858), which contains much of his best work, including 'The Haystack in the Floods', 'Concerning Geffray Teste Noire', 'Shameful Death', and 'Golden Wings'.
In 1859 Morris married Jane Burden and worked as a professional painter (1857-62).
His romantic narrative of THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JASON (1867), THE EARTHLY PARADISE (1868-70), BOOK OF VERSE (1870), THE STORY OF SIGURD THE VOLSUNG AND THE FALL OF THE NIBELUNGS(1876)
In the 1860s Morris started revolutionize the art of house decoration and furniture in England after founding the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
The firm first specialized in providing stained glass and fittings for churches.
His [Daisy] wallpaper, designed in 1862, became famous - his wallpapers have never gone out of fashion.
In 1877 he founded the Society for the protection of Ancient Buildings in protest against the destruction being caused by the restorers

Morris defined art as "the expression by man of his pleasure in labor".

Morris's love for old handsome books and illuminated manuscripts resulted in the founding of the Kelmscott Press.
It produced from 1891 to 1898 53 titles in 66 volumes, The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer.
He also designed three typestyles for his press, translated Virgil's Aeneid (1875), Odyssey (1887), and Beowulf (1895).
Morris's novel The Well at the World's End (1896),A Dream of John Ball (1888) and News from Nowhere (1891)

On his death, Morris was widely mourned as 'our best man' by his fellow socialists.
His view that the true stimulation to useful labor must be found in the work itself is still relevant.
His designs brought about a complete revolution in public taste, though he was aware that only the rich could afford the products of his firm.