May Morris

May Morris
May Morris, 1909
Born	25 March 1862(1862-03-25)
Died	17 October 1938(1938-10-17) (aged 76)
Nationality	English
Occupation	Embroidery designer Teacher Editor
Known for	Arts and Crafts movement British Socialism

Mary "May" Morris (25 March 1862 – 17 October 1938) was an English artisan, embroidery designer, socialist, and editor. She was the younger daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris and his wife and artists' model Jane Morris.

Biography

May Morris, 1872, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

May Morris was born on 25 March 1862 at Red House, Bexleyheath, and was named Mary as she was born on the Feast of the Annunciation.^[1] May learned to embroider from her mother and her aunt Bessie Burden, who had been taught by William Morris. In 1881, she enrolled at the National Art Training School, the precursor of the Royal College of Art, to study embroidery^[1][2] In 1885, aged 23, she became the director of the embroidery department at her father's enterprise Morris & Co..

In 1886, May fell in love with Henry Halliday Sparling (1860–1924), the secretary of the Socialist League. Despite her mother's concerns about her future son-in-law, they married 14 June 1890 at Fulham Register Office.^[1] The marriage broke down in 1894 over her affair with a former lover, the playwright George Bernard Shaw. The Sparlings were divorced in 1898 and May resumed her maiden name.^[1][2]

She edited her father's Collected Works in 24 volumes for Longmans, Green and Company, published from 1910 to 1915, and also commissioned two houses, as had her mother Jane, to be built in the style that he loved after his death, and which are still standing in the village of Kelmscott in the Cotswolds in England.

May Morris died at Kelmscott Manor 17 October 1938.^[3]

Embroidery

Embroidered Altar frontal, executed by May Morris from a design by Philip Webb.^[4]

May Morris was an influential embroideress and designer, although her contributions are often overshadowed by those of her father, a towering figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. Morris himself is credited with the resurrection of free-form embroidery in the style which would be termed art needlework. Art needlework emphasized freehand stitching and delicate shading in silk thread, and was thought to encourage self-expression in the needleworker; this contrasted sharply with the brightly coloured Berlin wool work needlepoint and its "paint by numbers" aesthetic which had gripped much of home embroidery in the mid-19th century.

May Morris was active in the Royal School of Art Needlework (now Royal School of Needlework), founded as a charity in 1872 under the patronage of Princess Helena to maintain and develop the art of needlework through structured apprenticeships.

Publications

• Decorative Needlework, 1893
• The Collected Works of William Morris, 1910–1915

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "The William Morris Internet Archive : Chronology". http://www.marxists.org/archive/morris/works/chrono.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-24. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Naylor, p. 317
3. ^ "Miss May Morris (New York Times obituary)". The New York Times. 1938-10-18. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00A16FB3955157A93CAA8178BD95F4C8385F9. Retrieved 2008-08-24. 
4. ^ "The work is carried out with floss silk in bright colours and gold thread, both background and pattern being embroidered. The five crosses, that are placed at regular intervals between the vine leaves, are couched in gold passing upon a silvery silk ground." Christie, Grace (Mrs. Archibald H.): Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, London, John Hogg, 1912; e-text at Project Gutenberg; notes to Plate XIII.

References

• Daly, Gay, Pre-Raphaelites in Love, Ticknor & Fields, 1989, ISBN 0899194508.
• Lochnan, Katharine, Douglas E. Schoenherr, and Carole Silver, editors: The Earthly Paradise: Arts and Crafts by William Morris and His Circle from Canadian Collections Key Porter Books, 1996, ISBN 1550134507.
• Marsh, Jan, Jane and May Morris: A Biographical Story 1839–1938, London, Pandora Press, 1986 ISBN 0-86358-026-2
• Marsh, Jan, Jane and May Morris: A Biographical Story 1839–1938 (updated edition, privately published by author), London, 2000
• Naylor, Gillian: William Morris by Himself: Designs and Writings, London, Little Brown & Co. 2000 reprint of 1988 edition.
• Todd, Pamela, Pre-Raphaelites at Home, New York, Watson-Guptill Publications, 2001, ISBN 0823042855

External links

• Archival material relating to May Morris listed at the UK National Register of Archives
• Decorative Needlework by May Morris, 1893

Persondata
Name	Morris, May
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	25 March 1862
Place of birth
Date of death	17 October 1938
Place of death