REVIEW
Lecturer: Joanna Banham
The Victorian period witnessed massive changes in the manufacture and utilisation of wallpaper: a product that had previously been a luxury item became available to all but the very poorest of homes. Joanne discussed and shared photos of how William Morris (the Father of the Arts and Crafts Movement) decorated his home ‘The Red House’, in Bexleyheath, which she described as having a ‘jewel-like’ effect with intense blues, reds and greens. He moved to ‘Kelmscott Manor’, in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire where once again he used texture, colour and pattern throughout the house.
Jo presented a thoroughly stimulating lecture on how these pre-Raphaelite interiors were influenced by nature and gave a sense of movement and flow. She focussed not only on the works of William Morris, but also of Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossini (as an interesting aside, we were made aware that Morris’ wife, Jane, was also a model and ‘muse’ to Rossini).
Joanna Banham has over 25 years of experience in the arts, having curated historic wallpaper collections at the Whitworth Gallery and Arthur Sanderson & Sons, directing and creating public programmes, and working in a curatorial capacity. Joanna has worked for a number of renowned organisations such as the V&A, Tate Britain and the Royal Academy and is now the Director of the Victorian Society of America Summer School and lectures regularly for the Arts Society and many universities.
Joanna Banham
