The MNAC to host an exhibition devoted to William Morris, the ideologue of the Arts and Crafts movement
The exhibition brings together around 300 pieces, including paintings, drawings, engravings, furniture, jewellery and ceramics.
For the first time in Catalonia, a large scale exhibition will be held featuring works by William Morris and other members of the Arts and Crafts movement, which emerged in Britain in the last third of the 19th century as a reaction to the effects of industrialization on design, knowledge and daily life. The exhibition is made up of some 300 pieces which, from 22 February to 21 May, can be seen at the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC). Most of the exhibits have been ceded by British institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate and the Whitworth Art Gallery, among many others. The show is titled William Morris and the Arts & Crafts Movement in Great Britain, and is organized by the MNAC and the Juan March Foundation.
The Arts and Crafts movement preached a return to a simpler way of life and beauty in the design of everyday domestic objects in the context of a nation heavily marked by the Industrial Revolution in which traditional crafts had seemingly been relegated to the past. The exhibits in the exhibition therefore include everything from jewellery to furniture, as well as ceramics, glasswork, wallpaper, textiles and bindings. There are also examples of drawings, paintings, prints and photographs. The most outstanding pieces, according to the MNAC, include an immense tapestry created by Morris & Co in the 1890s which illustrates the legend of the Holy Grail, and a cabinet by Ernest Gimson painted with images of rural life in the Cotswolds.
William Morris was the founder of the movement and was born in 1834 and died at the age of 62. He was a designer, craftsman, poet, essayist, businessman, printer, and a political and social activist. The exhibition at the MNAC aims to showcase not only work by Morris and other representatives of the Arts and Crafts movement, but also to highlight the validity of their creations and ideas.
Additional information is available at the following link.