DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41194#0009
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY WIL/
LIAM MORRIS AT THE DISTRIBU/
TION OF PRIZES TO STUDENTS
OFTHE BIRMINGHAM MUNICIPAL
SCHOOL OF ART ON FEB. 21,1894.
IT seems to me that my address falls naturally
into two parts: that I have first to speak to the gen/
eral public about the Art which your School re/
presents, and next I have to speak to the students
of the School about their position and aims. As to
the first part, I fear some of you may think I am
telling an old story once more; a story of which
you are tired of hearing, if lam not tired of telling
it. For, to say the truth, we are not yet quite on the
right road towards a satisfactory condition of Art.
When I say 'we/ I do not mean this country in
especial; for, indeed, at home here we are some/
what better off than in other civilized countries,
though at first sight it may not seem so, owing to
the fact that in France, Germany, Italy, and else/
where, there are still more or less survivals from
the foregoing periods, during which Art was com/
mon to the whole people. But those survivals are
being extinguished under our very eyes, and in the
course of a few years there will be nothing more
interesting, e.g., in the peasant life of Italy, than
in that of England or America. All nations of us
must go through the mill in which the commer/
cial periodisgrindingus; andEnglandhasatleast
this advantage: that she was thrown into the hop/
LIAM MORRIS AT THE DISTRIBU/
TION OF PRIZES TO STUDENTS
OFTHE BIRMINGHAM MUNICIPAL
SCHOOL OF ART ON FEB. 21,1894.
IT seems to me that my address falls naturally
into two parts: that I have first to speak to the gen/
eral public about the Art which your School re/
presents, and next I have to speak to the students
of the School about their position and aims. As to
the first part, I fear some of you may think I am
telling an old story once more; a story of which
you are tired of hearing, if lam not tired of telling
it. For, to say the truth, we are not yet quite on the
right road towards a satisfactory condition of Art.
When I say 'we/ I do not mean this country in
especial; for, indeed, at home here we are some/
what better off than in other civilized countries,
though at first sight it may not seem so, owing to
the fact that in France, Germany, Italy, and else/
where, there are still more or less survivals from
the foregoing periods, during which Art was com/
mon to the whole people. But those survivals are
being extinguished under our very eyes, and in the
course of a few years there will be nothing more
interesting, e.g., in the peasant life of Italy, than
in that of England or America. All nations of us
must go through the mill in which the commer/
cial periodisgrindingus; andEnglandhasatleast
this advantage: that she was thrown into the hop/