Supervisor: Professor Penny Sparke
This design history thesis addresses the
importance of the natural world - especially birds - to British society,
culture and decorative design 1851-1914. During urbanisation in the late
nineteenth century, society experienced a deep interest in, and nostalgia for
nature which was demonstrated through economic, scientific and artistic
endeavours. Just as birds were being
collected, classified and displayed in private collections or public museums as
specimens, they were also valued as commodities and worn as fashion
accessories. Nature was represented in the late Victorian and Edwardian home in
many ways: through the presence of live pets, collections and taxidermy
displays. As well as being a source of inspiration in the wider arts, birds
were increasingly illustrated in publications and print materials. They were
also represented in the decoration of the English domestic interior. Designers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement in England,
such as William Morris, Walter Crane, William De Morgan and C.F.A. Voysey,
responded to their age by representing birds in their decorative designs for
the home - looking to nature to provide an alternative to copying historicist
motifs and patterns. Voysey delighted in depicting birds and he represented
them in his designs more than any of his predecessors and contemporaries in
England. His designs were produced as wallpapers, textiles, furniture,
metalwork, ceramics and as graphic designs. For Voysey, a religious man, nature
had a special significance: it was the work of The Creator. This thesis
positions Voysey within the culture of his own time and relates his work to
that of his predecessors and contemporaries. It suggests that, while he
owed much to them, his work was also highly individualistic and that his
representations of birds enabled him to convey his spirituality, religious
morality, and worldview to others.