“Where Then Is Our William Morris?”: Global Legacies of Art and Craft

This course will examine the legacies of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement around the world. We will look at a variety of craft revival movements and a range of media and crafts, but we will focus on figures who most directly responded to Morris himself. Why were so many people around the world inspired by Morris? What did they embrace and what did they critique? How did the principles of Arts and Crafts change over time? We will look at examples from Japan, America, Ireland, Russia, South Asia, Germany, Hungary, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and the Middle East. We will begin by grounding ourselves in Morris’s own work and writings, and then consider how his ideas were taken up in different contexts and relate to concepts including modernism, imperialism, settler colonialism, orientalism, industrialization, the emancipation of the serfs, post-colonialism, nationalism, and gender. Accordingly, the course is focused on historiographical as much as historical questions. It will be structured around detailed readings and discussion of primary texts and the examination of objects, interiors, and architecture. Our primary methodological question will be that of the relationship between texts and objects, and, more specifically, the translation, appropriation, and reinterpretation of Arts and Crafts ideals in global and transnational contexts. 3 credits. Satisfies the non-Western requirement.