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William Morris and the Snakeshead

William Morris Snakeshead textile fabric was first produced in 1876. The date is significant as this was a period where Morris was gathering particularly rich and original inspiration from a number of Indian sourced textiles. Snakeshead was by no means the only Indian styled fabric made available by Morris, pomegranate along with others being particularly popular during the 1870s. They were also not alone in their inspiration as they were indeed part of a much larger British interest in Indian inspired textiles which were being heavily marketed by such retailers as Liberty as well as that of Morris & Co.

Snakeshead is a relatively complex pattern even for Morris and has a particularly rich colour palette dominated by blue and red, which Morris saw as typical of Indian styled and sourced fabrics. He spent long hours at the South Kensington Museum, which is now the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, pouring over original design work brought to Britain through various means from all over the then British Indian sub-continent. He was intrigued by the indigenous intrinsic understanding of pattern, but more so by the sophisticated usage of natural coloured dyes.

Illustration: William Morris. Snakeshead, 1876.

Morris along with his on-going partnership during this period with the dye and print manufacturer Thomas Wardle was intent on reproducing the sophisticated dyeing techniques of India on British soil. Because of the intensity of colour used in textile design work such as Snakeshead, the dyeing and printing process was fraught with numerous problems and hold-ups, and with two men who by all accounts were as persistent and obsessive concerning all elements of quality control as each other, it is a miracle that complex design pieces such as this were ever completed.

Snakeshead proved to be popular beyond its initial 1870s period of Indian inspired fashion. So much so that it was still being produced ten years and more after Morris death in 1896. Although perhaps a little more formalised and symmetrical than is usual with Morris textile design work, this piece more than makes up for that formalism with a complex balance of colour tones that are possibly the widest ranging and richest that Morris ever produced, admittedly with the full help of Thomas Wardle.

Illustration: William Morris. Snakeshead, 1876.

Although the title itself may conjure up various romantically inspired visions of India, it was in fact very much part of the English countryside. Snakeshead is part of the lily family and is a small flower that can be found growing within grass meadows. In some respects it could be said that by using Indian techniques of pattern and colour along with an English derived flower, Morris was in some way attempting to cross-pollinate styles, producing work that was original and in some way removed from the fashionable but derivative and pastiched examples on offer at such prestigious retail outlets as Liberty.

Whatever the truth, Snakeshead was in some ways a departure by Morris from his usual fair. It is not entirely convincing as a Morris decorative work and does question whether it was perhaps the result of the formula of successful and popular fashion rather than that of Morris and his intrinsically core values as a designer.

Illustration: William Morris. Snakeshead, 1876.