Beauty of the Earth: The Art of May, Jane and William Morris

William Morris longed to have a home with ‘green trees and flowering meadows and living waters outside’. In his patterns, his poems and his radical household, he explored ‘the promise of the harvest and the joy of life’.

This new exhibition shows how William’s love of gardens and green spaces was shared by his wife Jane and daughter May. It brings into focus the art and writings made by the women and men who gathered at the Morris homes, where gardens were transformed into creative and pleasurable spaces. Honeysuckle, strawberries, apples, willow boughs and roses, these are recurring themes in their designs. Riverbanks and tangled woodlands were also woven into William Morris’s landscapes of the imagination.

From embroidery to wallpaper, decorated books to oil paintings, the exhibition gathers works from the earliest days of Jane and William’s marriage. It will also feature works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones and John Ruskin, as well as designs by May Morris which are on public display for the first time. Together, these will show how the visionary art of the Morris family can still encourage us to ‘love the narrow spot that surrounds our daily life’.

Tickets: £5 Adult, £3.50 Concession, £2.50 Under 16's