William Morris Society UK News
The History of the William Morris Society, 1955-2005
Members will be pleased to know that the history of the first fifty years of the Society is now available. It has been written by the historian Martin Crick, author of The History of the Social-Democratic Federation, and tells in a lively style of both successes and controversies, bringing to life the many dedicated and sometimes larger-than-life personalities involved.
It is illustrated with a range of black and white photographs, and has an attractive coloured cover designed by Anne Hickmott.
284pp. plus 24 pages of illustrations, paperback £15.
Special offer to members: £12 plus £2p&p, from The William Morris Society, Kelmscott House, 26 Upper Mall, London W6 9TA (cheques to William Morris Society).
Peter Preston
It is with great sadness that we inform members of the death of Peter Preston, Vice-Chair and immediate past Chair of the William Morris Society, who died on 18 October of pancreatic cancer, aged 67. Peter was a long-standing, active and much loved member of the Society, and will be sorely missed. He joined the Society in 1983. He was not someone who was temperamentally inclined to be a passive member of any organisation he believed in, and very quickly became a member of the Committee. Morris wrote that in the new society he foresaw it would be necessary for every citizen to feel himself responsible for its details, and be interested in them. Peter’s attitude prefigured that new condition. His energetic commitment meant that he took the most onerous of Committee roles, that of Secretary, from 1987 to 1990, and acted as editor of our Newsletter from 1987 to 1993. He co-organised the ‘News from Nowhere’ centenary conference at Ruskin Hall, Oxford in 1990, where the atmosphere of good fellowship Peter fostered made the whole experience a bit like being at a weekend house party with a gang of people who happened to share your favourite book. He was also co-organiser, with Peter Faulkner, of the Centenary Conference at Exeter College, Oxford in 1996, and co-edited the William Morris Centenary Essays deriving from it. In 2003, he gave the Kelmscott Lecture, Dreaming London: the future city in Morris and others. He co-organised the 2005 conference, the last international Morris conference held in the UK. And during the preparations for that conference, he took over as Chair from 2004 to 2007 and 2008 to 2011. It is an impressive record of service to the Society, which in itself should be celebrated: he was a stalwart and committed comrade.
More important, though, is the manner of his being with us. Morris also said that ‘fellowship is life’, and Peter expressed that in the way he worked in the Society, even at points of conflict. His was a hugely reassuring presence, and his interventions always measured, kind and wise. Those who worked closely with him came to know his intellectual reach, and to experience his integrity, his warmth, his humanity, his thoughtfulness, and his humour. We pay tribute to Peter, therefore, not only as a great colleague, but also a dear friend.
A memorial meeting was held in Nottingham on 4 November. The William Morris Society and the Emery Walker Trust were well represented. Ruth Levitas read a short tribute on behalf of the Society and Phillippa Bennett read an excerpt from A Dream of John Ball. Our President, Jan Marsh, sent the following message:
‘I join you in spirit to celebrate Peter’s life and pay my own tribute to him. I am sure that in all aspects of his life – personal and professional - Peter brought the same exceptional qualities of wisdom and warmth as he did to his commitment and contribution to the William Morris Society and the world of Morris scholarship – qualities of which we, in common with family, friends, colleagues, students and others, have been beneficiaries. It is a fine legacy’.
A full obituary will appear in the summer edition of the Journal of William Morris Studies.
Ruth Levitas
Peter’s family have chosen two charities to support in his memory. They are: Pancreatic Cancer UK and Book Aid International. If you wish to make a donation you may do so by visiting www.justgiving.co.uk/Peter-Preston.
Major new online resource:
The elements of drawing: John Ruskin’s teaching collection at Oxford.
The Ashmolean Museum and the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art have launched a major new online resource. With the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Ruskin’s extensive collections of drawings, manuscripts and photographs kept at the Ashmolean have been digitised.
Ruskin was the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford and established his Drawing School in 1871. His aim in putting together his teaching collections was to provide a resource for ordinary men and women who “might see greater beauties than they had hitherto seen in nature and in art, and thereby gain more pleasure in life”. With this in mind he collected some 1470 works, including his own drawings and those by other artists such as JMW Turner, prints and photographs, assembled over 15 years during his travels in Europe, and especially in Italy. The collections were arranged in series and placed in special cabinets but when the works were dispersed in the 20th century the original arrangement was lost – the website provides a virtual recreation of the cabinets and cross-references the works with Ruskin’s original notes and instructions.
Users can browse through highlights or search for specific works. A learning section contains ideas for using the website and collection, and includes a video drawing course delivered by painter and former Master of the Ruskin School, Stephen Farthing RA. In Collection Trails, writers select objects from the collection and provide background information on a variety of themes.
The Ruskin resource follows the launch last year of Eastern Art Online and is a further stage in the Ashmolean’s ongoing project to publish its collections online.
William Morris Society garden party
The Society’s garden party on June 11th was notable for two things – it was a sunny afternoon in a week of rain and it was our most successful garden party yet with well over 200 visitors. Members and visitors enjoyed tea and scones in the garden of Kelmscott House and queued for tours of the house. The tours were so popular that two groups had to be taken round at the same time and the last tours finished at nearly 6pm.
Thanks to Martin Stott for photographs of the afternoon.
The garden party takes place every two years and that is the only date on which tours of the house are possible. The next opportunity to visit the William Morris Society’s garden will be at Open House weekend on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th of September.
SPAB rowers complete journey from
Kelmscott Manor to Kelmscott House
On Monday May 30th the Society was delighted to welcome to Kelmscott House a group of rowers from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings on the completion of their journey by boat from Kelmscott Manor to Hammersmith, repeating the journey made by William Morris. The SPAB rowers were completing The Great Thames Row 2011 in support of the Dance Scholarship Trust SPAB scholarship which provides funding for up to four SPAB Scholars a year to travel the around the country, expanding their knowledge of the repair and conservation of historic buildings.
A team of 18 rowers took turns to row the 132 miles between the two houses, taking seven days in all. They arrived at 4pm on a rather wet bank holiday afternoon and were welcomed by Jock and Joy Birney, Kelmscott House residents, with tea, beer and biscuits in their lovely garden. The orangery was crowded with about 30 rowers and SPAB supporters, and all were invited into the house to see William Morris’s beautiful first floor drawing room. Many thanks to Jock and Joy for their generous hospitality.
The rowers raised £1,500 for the fund. Further donations can be made through www.dancescholarshiptrust.org.uk, or by post, with cheques made payable to The Dance Scholarship Trust at DST, c/o the SPAB, 37 Spital Square, London E1 6DY.
The William Morris Society and the TUC Day of Action
Members of the Society joined the TUC March for the Alternative on Saturday, taking our banner of the Socialist League, Hammersmith Branch, reconstituted for one day only. Find out More
Available NOW! William Morris’s The Tables Turned, or Nupkins Awaked – A Socialist Interlude CD. See the Retail Page for more information.
The William Morris Society is now offering a Citizenship programme for Key Stage 2 and 3 school visitors. See the citizenship page for more information.
Video of the launch of William Morris in the Twenty-First Century now available on the events archive page.
The Well of Art: The Life and Work of William Morris
A graphic journey exploring the ideas and creative drive of one of Britain's most important interior designers.
Until 4th June.
Thu & Sat 2-5pm, FREE
Teachers, parents and students! We now have an education blog with classroom activity ideas, fun facts to discuss at home, and the latest work by our school visitors. Follow Morris's Wise Bird and comment on the Education Blog Page
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Upcoming Events
Sat 11 June. Garden Party
Sun 12 June. Open Gardens
For more information go to the What's on