Wandle

Description

All of the printed textiles named after rivers were large-scale patterns that required at least 30 separate, carved wood blocks to complete. Morris described this pattern to his older daughter Jenny, explaining that “it will have to be very elaborate & splendid” and that he was naming it after the River Wandle “to honour our helpful stream.”

Provenance

Haslam & Whiteway, London, by 2007; sold to Crab Tree Farm Foundation, Lake Bluff, IL, Sept. 6, 2007 [Crab Tree Farm Foundation catalog record; copy in curatorial file]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2018.

Wandle

Morris & Co.

Design 1884, made 1917–40

Accession Number

249116

Medium

Indigo discharge block printed cotton

Dimensions

111.1 × 92.4 cm (43 3/4 × 36 3/8 in.)

Classification

printed textile

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Crab Tree Farm Foundation