Meeting on Saturday 12th October 2024
Helen Elletson from the William Morris Society
The Making of Beautiful Things
After the fastest CETG AGM ever, we were treated by Helen Elletson to an enchanting talk about two ladies from the 19th century whose paths joined together briefly but ultimately led them their separate ways to establish quite different styles and careers in embroidery. The two Victorian ladies were May Morris and Lily Yeats. Both were equally overshadowed by their famous male family members: May by her father William Morris and Lily by her brother the poet WB Yeats.
May Morris grew up as the second daughter of the Arts and Crafts designer William Morris and from an early age showed an interest in needlework. After art studies she became the manager of the embroidery department of the William Morris company. Under her direction, a small group of ladies produced hundreds of embroidered items working in May's home. Producing cushion covers, door hangings, ecclesiastical textiles as well design kits for customers to finish at home, the band of women were a veritable cottage industry, albeit working in Hammersmith, in London. It was into this hive of activity that Lily Yeats came over from Ireland and was employed as an embroiderer in 1888. Political views had already brought the two families in contact within the arts set in West London.
May Morris and the Morris Co embroideries mostly produced the designs of her father William adapted to decorative household items. May Morris developed her own designs too although due to the constraints of the “house style” they are not easily distinguished from her father's designs. For example, the Honeysuckle pattern is often attributed to her father but is now recognised as having been designed by May. Compared with her father, May's designs were influenced by careful observation of nature.
After leaving the Morris Co after her father's death, her designs developed to reflect medieval influences. May Morris was influential in elevating embroidery to an art form in its own right. However, later in life she lamented the decay of embroidery under the assault of garish Berlin woolwork! It has taken till the 20th century for her art to be rediscovered with books and exhibitions dedicated to her work. Besides her embroidery and designing, May was also productive as an author and founder of the Women's Art Guild.
Lily Yeats parted company with the Morris business unhappy with her employer and eventually moved back to Ireland to found Cuala Designs with her book printer sister Elizabeth. Lily became a designer of embroideries in her own right and developed a distinctively modern style with landscape designs featuring night scenes of Irish landscapes with green fields, stone walls and trees dominating the countryside. Ill health dogged Lily Yeats all her life and curtailed her activities. She continued to produce and sell her embroideries till her death in 1949.
All in all, a very interesting and informative talk about two interesting ladies and their art.
For more information see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Morris
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/may-morris-art-and-life-william-morris-gallery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_Yeats
https://www.artnet.com/artists/lily-yeats/
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Words © Pirkko Soundy/CETG 2024
Photos © William Morris Society
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