Beautiful Useful Things
What William Morris Made
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Award-winning author Beth Kephart and illustrator Melodie Stacey’s poetic picture book, Beautiful Useful Things, is about the life and work of William Morris, maker of beautiful, useful things, sure to engage young dreamers and artists alike.
William Morris is best known for his colorful wallpapers and textiles, inspired by the English forests and wild foliage where he grew up. But did you know this icon of the Arts and Crafts Movement was also a poet, a painter, a preservationist, an activist, an environmentalist, and a maker of many other beautiful, useful things, like books?
“Created with sweeping lines, repeated shapes, and deep, soft colors, Stacey’s graceful illustrations reflect elements of Morris’ artistic work as well as his affinity for nature. A lovely book introducing a notable Englishman whose life and work are unfamiliar to most American children.” —Booklist
“A harmonious picture book whose poetic text and delicate illustrations befit its subject.” —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the midst of the Industrial Revolution, while factories churned out pollution alongside mass-produced goods, British artist William Morris (1834–1896) led a quiet rebellion of "beautiful useful things," rendering patterns of vines and flowers, making them into textiles and papers, and starting a press to print books. "In William's workshop, each pattern, wallpaper, tapestry, and rug... was conceived by the heart and made by the hand." Via illustrations that employ Arts and Crafts movement aesthetics, Stacey starts with the oak leaves, vines, birds, and insects that Morris encounters as a child, using them as motifs throughout to frame vignettes that underscore the organic forms of Morris's work. Lilting lines by Kephart slip into verse and out again ("with his friends, he began—/ to sketch, to paint, to knot, to sew,.../ to shape, to cut, to loom, to know,/ what the hands could do,/ when the eyes would see") in a volume about considering beauty that is itself beautiful, and restful, too. Ages 4–8.
