May Morris at William Morris Gallery.

Great exhibition at the William Morris Gallery.  May Morris commenced in the family business, working to designs of her father, William Morris, then progressed to her own designs.  There was an exquisite stitched piece of a Gothic figure - typical of a WM design - which apparently was a technical demonstration piece, but May Morris rarely stitched this type of design from this point on.  She focussed on foliate border designs and flowers.  Her work varied from tiny, miniature, stitches on 6" x 3" panels, to big chunky stitches on commercial felt 15' x 15'.  She used satin, stem, long and short, and split stitch extensively - simple stitches - used skillfully and to best effect.  Lots of clever, directional line work.  She was unimpressed by fancy stitches.

May Morris was unimpressed with embroidery designs of black or dark blue on light ground.  She obviously liked colour work and was very skilled at colour blending.  She held interesting views on purple and yellow.  She advocated soft dusky purples with bright clear yellows, and was scathing about bright purples against buttery yellows.  I wonder whether she was reacting against the Victorian Perkins coal tar dyes which originally were a bright, artificial purple.  May Morris advocated good quality materials, specifically light fast dyes, and I wonder whether William Morris' colour dyes were as lightfast as artificial chemical dyes of the tie.

Vine, stitched wall hanging/quilt cover c1910

 May Morris was excluded from many Arts & Crafts societies because she was female, and was a founder member of a women's  exhibiting society.

Label - Why has a section been cut out?

And the table runner it was attached to.

Altercloth with gold work.

Amazing detail.  Goldwork and lustrous silks reflect the light very well.

There was also a hand embroidered cot quilt made by May Morris.  Apparently it was made in the year before she married.  She never had a child, and the marriage ended in divorce (unusual for the time).  It had various quotations around the edge, and lots of animals stitched on it.  I found this piece quite poignant.

Designed by May Morris, stitched by Jane Morris,
The Forest and the Homestead cot quilt
Courtesy of William Morris Gallery

It was a lovely day out.