Influences: Morris Wallpapers Before, During and After

Mary Schoeser, Exhibition Curator
Thursday 3 October, 1.30pm
Included with gallery admission 

Against the backdrop of the exhibition, The Art of Wallpaper: Morris & Co. in Context, this talk takes us on a tour of Willliam Morris’s influences. You will see his impact on others in his lifetime and beyond, up to the present day.

Our visual travels also include examples of the decorative arts that inspired Morris himself, from Medieval manuscripts and the adoption of Mongolian patterns, to the impact of Iberian/Italian designs and stamped ‘leather’ papers from Japan.

As a predominantly freelance historian since 1991, Mary Schoeser MA FRSA has written about 200 diverse publications (books, chapters and magazine articles), which include Textiles: A concise history (T&H: 2003 revised 2022), Silk  (Yale University Press, 2007),  Textiles: The art of mankind (Thames & Hudson, 2012 and 2013) and The Art of Wallpaper: Morris & Co. in Context (ACC Art Books, 2022 and 2024).

For nine years in the 1980s the Archivist for Warner & Sons and thereafter an archive consultant to numerous firms including Laura Ashley, Liberty, Orla Keily and Sanderson, her knowledge of British manufacturers extends to a sound understanding of textile and wallpaper production itself. This has facilitated restoration work with English Heritage, the National Trust and other historic property owners and also informed 44 curatorial projects, currently an exhibition for the Fashion & Textile Museum (March 2025).

Extensive academic experience includes a part-time research position at Central Saint Martins (2000-2011) and an honorary research role at the V&A since 2016. She is Patron of the Bernat Klein Foundation and also of the School of Textiles, Coggeshall.