Kate Faulkner emerges from William Morris’ shadow
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In Cambridge, England, the Fitzwilliam Museum is exhibiting the work of Kate Faulkner, a British artist and designer whose contributions to decorative arts have long been overshadowed by those of William Morris.
For over a century, Faulkner’s designs were often mistakenly attributed to Morris, obscuring her own significant role within Morris & Co. She was the first designer after Morris himself to create wallpapers and fabrics for the company, and one of only four designers Morris trusted in this area.
Faulkner’s designs, created in the 1870s and 1880s, continue to be sold today. The current exhibition, “An Invitation to Art: William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites”, is the first to celebrate Faulkner as a designer, craftsperson, and workshop supervisor at Morris & Co. A large altar piece, 6.3 meters wide and made of oak with a silver gesso layer, commissioned by the company in 1886, is being displayed publicly for the first time.
Curator Karen Livingston believes Faulkner was not simply working under Morris’s direction, but was a prominent and independent artist in her own right. Livingston is also attempting to locate Faulkner’s living relatives, specifically descendants of her sister Lucy Orensmyth, hoping to find a photograph or portrait of the artist, as no images of Faulkner are currently known to exist.
