William Morris Gallery announces 75th anniversary programme for 2025.
In 2025, William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow will celebrate the 75th anniversary since its opening. To mark this milestone, the Gallery will present two major exhibitions Morris Mania and Women in Print: A Century of Textile Design; the first rehang of its permanent collection displays in over ten years; and a series of talks and events in institutions held around the UK.
Opening in April 2025, Morris Mania will be a major exhibition illustrating the extraordinary versatility and enduring prevalence of Morris’s work in popular British culture. In the lead-up to the exhibition, the Gallery is launching a national appeal inviting the public to donate and lend their own Morris-patterned objects to go on display. A newly commissioned film by Natalie Cubides-Brady will be presented for the first time within the exhibition, splicing together clips of Morris’s patterns in TV and cinema, from Gogglebox and University Challenge to My Fair Lady and Paddington, to uncover the genealogy of Morris’s designs on screen.
In October 2025, William Morris Gallery will present Women in Print: 150 Years of Liberty Textile Designs. Curated in collaboration with Liberty to celebrate the design house's 150th anniversary, this major exhibition honours the exceptional contributions of women textile designers over the past 150 years, as seen through the history of Liberty fabrics. Beginning with May Morris and the role of women designers in the Arts and Crafts movement, the exhibition traces the evolving influence of women in textiles, showcasing works by iconic designers such as Jessie M. King, Lucienne Day, and Althea McNish.
For the first time since its 2012 major capital project, William Morris Gallery will stage a rehang of its permanent collections, with the first phase of this project taking place throughout the anniversary year. The new rehang will revitalise the Gallery, creating more welcoming and accessible spaces while renewing each of the permanent displays.
To celebrate 75 years of William Morris Gallery, a series of talks and events will take place over the course of 2025. The first event will be staged at the V&A on Friday 7 February. Introduced by the V&A’s Director Tristram Hunt, the talk will see Rowan Bain and Qaisra Khan, curators of William Morris and Art from the Islamic World, in conversation with the V&A’s Curator of Nineteenth-Century Furniture, Max Donnelly. Additional events will be announced in the new year.
EXHIBITION INFORMATION
William Morris & Art from The Islamic World
9 November 2024 - 9 March 2025
Morris Mania
12 April - 22 September 2025. Read more about the appeal for donations.
Women in Print: A Century of Textile Design
18 October 2025 - 21 June 2026. In collaboration with Liberty.
Gallery opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 10am – 5pm
William Morris Gallery, Forest Road London, E17 4PP
Further Information: Home - William Morris Gallery