2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Designing Nature: William Morris and his Vision
Project/Area Number |
15520219
|
Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
|
Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
Section | 一般 |
Research Field |
Literatures/Literary theories in other countries and areas
|
Research Institution | Nagoya Institute of Technology |
Principal Investigator |
FUJIOKA Nobuko Nagoya Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Professor, 工学研究科, 教授 (20209563)
|
Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
|
Keywords | William Morris / John Ruskin / Gothic Revival / Design Movement / Nature / Nature and Literature |
Research Abstract |
When world's first industrial society appeared in the Victorian England, William Morris, who grew up to witness its height in the Great Exhibition of 1851, instinctively detested it and soon began his "crusade and Holy Warfare against the age. " In the rapidly industrialized society of England, its traditional culture and Nature were severely impaired, and men striving to survive in such a society were loosing faith in their lives. Morris was obviously not alone in this crusade against the age ; many other prominent cultural leaders of Victorian Era, such as John Ruskin, shared Morris's sentiment. Morris is quite peerless, however, in the way he fought. Obviously he used in his design a great variety of images from Nature. Because of this abundant use of natural imagery, he is sometimes considered anachronistic and sentimental. It is, however, not true. His vision was always set in the future and on how man could once again revive the atrophied sense of Nature and make Nature once again an essential part of the culture. His use of natural imagery does not necessarily make Morris unique. Rather, his true uniqueness lies in the fact that he tried to re-design Nature itself through his design project and thereby tried to insinuate a new sensitivity into in the modern society. While others attacked directly the assumptions of the modern age, Morris produced variety of design which would introduce a new worldview. In his lifetime, he was not successful in fulfilling his vision, but at the very close of the modern age, time seems ripe and we are ready to appreciate Morris's design of Nature to the full extent.
|
Research Products
(3 results)