Embroidery panel designed by May Morris, Morris & Co., 1890s

fter finishing college, May went back home and started working for Morris & Co., her father's firm. She was head of the Embroidery section, with a team of embroiderers. Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum recently acquired this panel, probably intended to be a firescreen, which was designed by May. She designed pieces like this, and designed and embroidered the large, elaborate special commissions as she was one of the most skilled embroiderers working for the Firm.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artsandcraftsmuseumcheltenham/6776973908/

May bag

It was impossible for May to forget who her father was, I think it is impossible for us as well. May will always been seen in his light – but so can most of the Arts and Crafts designers! Let May come out from his shadow and be celebrated in her own right, as the remarkable woman – though flawed – that she knew herself to be.

This bag was made in 1932 and was displayed at the Exhibition of Cotswold Craftsmanship, Montpellier Pump Room, Cheltenham in 1951.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artsandcraftsmuseumcheltenham/6920266773/in/set-72157629062805086/

May bedspread

his embroidered white silk bedspread made by May in 1930 when she was 68 was displayed at the Exhibition of Cotswold Craftsmanship, Montpellier Pump Room, Cheltenham in 1951. She never lost her deft touch with the needle, or her passion for craft.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artsandcraftsmuseumcheltenham/6920266911/in/set-72157629062805086/

Morris Memorial Hall

Her lasting legacy to the village of Kelmscott was the building of a village hall. She had the idea long before it was realised. Her friend the architect Ernest Gimson designed the building. He died in 1919, but the building wasn't built until 1934, not long before May herself died. The opening was a great event, crammed with the great and the good. George Bernard Shaw opened the building, and Ramsey MacDonald, the prime minister, arrived late and could barely get in the room!

CAGM1991.1016.35.1, Part of the Emery Walker Library

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artsandcraftsmuseumcheltenham/6920266241/in/set-72157629062805086/

Scenes from the Fall of Troy

Although she had been active in pursuing her own career in her 20s and 30s, in the latter half of her life May dedicated herself to her father's memory. She edited William Morris's complete works, a mammoth task. This book shows more what she did for fun - this poem was written out by her and bound as an 80th birthday present for Emery Walker.ay

CAGM1991.1016.Z5 Part of the Emery Walker Library

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artsandcraftsmuseumcheltenham/6776974038/in/set-72157629062805086/

White Lies

May enjoyed acting, but she was more passionate about writing. She said to Emery Walker, ‘of course I want to get some things acted, stories published and all the rest of it.’ She would spend a lot of her life writing and editing, but she only produced one work of fiction. This play, White Lies, was published in 1903 when May was in her early forties. It is a quasi-tragic romance about family secrets, but has not yet been performed.

CAGM1991.1016.996.O73, Part of the Emery Walker Library

The Legend of Good Women', derived from Chaucer's poem. Worked by Jane Morris and her sister Bessie Burden.

Castle Howard

---------------------------------------

upper picture

One of the goals of all Janey research is to find a photo of her sister Bessie. She never married and William found her boring but she was no fool. Anyway this is Aphrodite from a scheme of 12 envisioned for the dining room at Red House. This panel depicts Aphrodite, and turned up in an auction in Edinburgh in 2007. Out of the remaining six, 3 can be found at Kelmscott Manor, and 3 at Castle Howard (the only ones with embroidered backgrounds). Jane worked on some of them.

This is Bessie's Penelope
http://www.bridgemanart.com/asset/278246/Morris-William-1834-96/Penelope-worked-by-Bessie-Burden-c.1860-embroid?search_context=%7B%22url%22%3A%22%5C%2Fsearch%5C%2Fcollection%5C%2FKELMSCOTT-MANOR%5C%2F1788%22%2C%22num_results%22%3A15%2C%22search_type%22%3A%22supplier_assets%22%2C%22supplier_id%22%3A%221788%22%2C%22item_index%22%3A11%7D

and the fascinating story of the Aphrodite auction is here:
http://www.antiquestradegazette.com/news/2007/jul/23/aphrodite-to-return-to-red-house/