The Gardens of William Morris

Fülszöveg

THE GARDENS OF
WILLIAM MORRIS
As the greatest textile designer of the Victorian era, William Morris is usually associated with interiors: fabrics, wallpapers and carpets. But he was equally, if not more, concerned with the exteriors of buildings and their surroundings. Just as he transferred the petals, leaves and curling stems of familiar plants onto the floors, walls and windows of his houses, so he took the concept of 'rooms' into the garden. His ideal garden looked back to the medieval hortus conclusus, an enclosed garden with straight paths and beds, planted with an abundance of cottage garden flowers. Morris strove to unite the best of the past with the more progressive ideas of the Victorian Age.
A lively mix of biography, anecdote and horticultural information, this is the first book to explore the principles of garden design that emerge in Morris's lectures, poetry and prose. Illustrated with archive material and specially commissioned photographs, it explores his... Tovább

Fülszöveg

THE GARDENS OF
WILLIAM MORRIS
As the greatest textile designer of the Victorian era, William Morris is usually associated with interiors: fabrics, wallpapers and carpets. But he was equally, if not more, concerned with the exteriors of buildings and their surroundings. Just as he transferred the petals, leaves and curling stems of familiar plants onto the floors, walls and windows of his houses, so he took the concept of 'rooms' into the garden. His ideal garden looked back to the medieval hortus conclusus, an enclosed garden with straight paths and beds, planted with an abundance of cottage garden flowers. Morris strove to unite the best of the past with the more progressive ideas of the Victorian Age.
A lively mix of biography, anecdote and horticultural information, this is the first book to explore the principles of garden design that emerge in Morris's lectures, poetry and prose. Illustrated with archive material and specially commissioned photographs, it explores his gardens: the Red House which he built for his bride; Kelmscott Manor where his wife and Rossetti conducted a passionate affair; and Kelmscott House in Hammersmith where George Bernard Shaw, W.B. Yeats and Oscar Wilde came to hear him speak. Plants were so important to him that Morris even created a garden at his factory at Merton Abbey.
The Gardens of William Morris looks in detail at the simple plants - the willow, fritillary, violet and honeysuckle which were a well-spring of his work - and at the host of designs they inspired. Morris's ideas on design and plant heritage were taken forward by Gertrude Jekyll and William Robinson and are as valid now as they were in the nineteenth century.



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