Anarchy & beauty
Subtitle: William Morris and his legacy, 1860-1960
By: Fiona MacCarthy
Contributors: Morris, William, 1834-1896; National Portrait Gallery (Great Britain)
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 183
ISBN-13: 9780300209464
Subjects: Arts and crafts movement; Influence; Exhibitions; Morris & Co. (London, England); Festival of Britain (1951 : Great Britain)
Other titles: Anarchy and beauty; William Morris and his legacy, 1860-1960
Description: William Morris (1834-1896) was an artist, craftsman, designer, poet, polymath, and visionary thinker. Well known for advocating that objects of beauty be accessible to all, Morris had a tremendous impact on the British Socialist movement, the Arts and Crafts movement, the Garden City movement, as well as on successive generations of artists and thinkers in Britain and beyond. In this fascinating book, Fiona MacCarthy examines Morris's vision of a society in which art could flourish, and how this idea resonated over the ensuing century. Anarchy and Beauty takes the reader through Morris's fascinating career, from the establishment of his decorative arts shop (later Morris & Co.), to his radical sexual politics and libertarianism, and the publication in 1890 of his novel News from Nowhere, which envisions a utopian socialist society. MacCarthy then looks at the numerous artists and movements that bear the influence of Morris's ideas: Arts and Crafts and the Garden City, which took hold in both Europe and the United States; artists' communities that sprung up during the interwar years; and the 1951 Festival of Britain, whose mission was to bring the highest standards of design within the reach of everyone. -- Publisher.
Notes: Published to accompany an exhibition of the same name held at the National Portrait Gallery, London, October 16, 2014-January 11, 2015.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-163) and index.
Table of contents: title: The art that is life: William Morris and the Red House Circle; title: The Fellowship of the New Life: sexual politics and libertarianism; title: Arts and Crafts: the meaning of the handmade object; title: Cities of the sun: the garden city movement; title: Heavens on earth: inter-war artistic communities; title: Art for the people: the Festival of Britain.