Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller’s exhibition contrasting William Morris with Andy Warhol, two of the most recognisable artists of the past two centuries, opened at Modern Art Oxford last week to a keen audience. The exhibition offers a lot more than the expected, presenting the viewer with an alternative to the popular idea of these artists. William Morris has long been regarded either as a staple of fashionable vintage-style curtains, wallpaper, and umbrellas or alternatively seen as a grumpy, taciturn fellow whose socialist leanings were perhaps undermined by his own wealth. Here, he is revealed as a hard working, multi-talented, and at times charming artist and designer, whose socialism was reflected in his attitudes towards his own work. Scribblings of medieval knights and doodles on a page of notes from a political lecture present a touchingly human image of Morris. Meanwhile, Deller has noted that he wants the exhibition to help people see Warhol as more than just a profit-seeking artist, but as an artist of integrity. The comparison with Morris certainly helps with this.
The viewer discovers parallels between the two artists’ practices, photographs of Warhol’s Factory are interestingly presented alongside images of Merton Abbey, where Morris and Co, the company that Morris founded, produced their fabrics, wallpapers, and designs. The original blocks used to print Morris’ wallpaper are displayed and it is easy to see the link between them and the acetate sheet used to create the Marilyn prints that Warhol is pictured holding up for our inspection in the Factory. The craftsmanship of the artists’ work is highlighted, despite their differing respective aims.
A work that particularly stood out was Morris’ tapestry, The Attainment: The Vision of the Holy Grail to Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Percival, which greets you as you climb the stairs up into the gallery space. Morris’ vast tapestry, over twenty feet long and eight feet high, woven from mohair, camel hair, wool, and silk, dominates one wall of the exhibition space, and depicts the climax of the story of the Holy Grail as told in Morte d’Arthur. With the typical Pre-Raphaelite mixture of naturalism and symbolism, the piece revives a medieval art form, which in its day was far more popular than painting. The opening text of the exhibition notes the interest that both Morris and Warhol found in mythology, that of Arthurian romance and medieval legend for Morris, and that of Hollywood for Warhol. This is reflected in the numerous photographs from Warhol’s autograph collection, including a signed photo from Shirley Temple, addressed to ‘Andrew Warhol’, and a number of his famous celebrity silkscreen prints, one of Joan Collins, another of Dame Elizabeth Taylor. Warhol’s Marilyn Tapestry, 1968, offers another form of that famous image, staring across the gallery towards Morris’. Warhol’s however is created more like a carpet, hinting at the banal domesticity ‘celebrities’ are consigned to, an image embodying the idea of the ‘household name.’ Warhol’s morbid interest in the almost mythologized Kennedy clan, Jackie Kennedy in particular, is also explored, the mythological aspect reflected in Jackie Kennedy’s coinage of the name ‘Camelot’ to describe her husband’s presidency.
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However it is not the exploration of celebrity in Warhol’s work that proves to be the most interesting, but that of his more overtly political works, such as Map of Eastern USSR Missile Bases, as it offers a more unexpected view of the artist. The simple monochrome piece gave a sense of the fear surrounding the facts surrounding the USSR during the height of the Cold War. The work, created a handful of years before the fall of the USSR, still has the power to unnerve, even after the fall of its subject; one can imagine the abandoned concrete buildings each cartoon like missile depiction refers to. The silkscreen prints of Warhol’s electric chair images which are displayed, further emphasise the argument of Warhol as a politically engaged artist, one who was by no means entirely commercial in outlook but who was willing to unnerve and unsettle with his artwork in a more explicit manner than Morris.
While the works of these two artists may at first seem an odd juxtaposition, Deller’s appreciation of the two has brought about an interesting contrast. The exhibition draws out different strains of the artists, and brings an awareness of artistic process. Although some comparisons seem a little flippant, such as the display of a set of Warhol’s Mao prints above a case of pamphlets and leaflets which serve as testament to Morris’ socialist activity, it is an overall fruitful and pleasing comparison, which leads the viewer to a greater appreciation of both artists. The exhibition is open until March 8, and is free to enter.
