Arts and Craft Tapestries

Modern tapestry weaving owes much to the vigour and freedom bought by the Arts and Crafts Movement headed in England by William Morris. He revived many old crafts; tapestry weaving being one of the beneficiaries of his fresh vision and creative energy. He visited French tapestry weavers in 1878 and described the workshops at Aubusson as 'a decaying commercial industry of rubbish'. A year later he had a high-warp loom built in his bedroom where he taught himself to weave tapestries from an 18th century French craft manual. With colleagues and friends, such as Edward Burn-Jones, he designed tapestries, like the Woodpecker and celebrations of the legend of King Arthur, based on medieval styles and techniques. The tapestry weavers at Morris and Co. achieved commercial success and, more importantly, revived the ailing craft.