Cancelled: Applied Arts and Historical Interiors: New insights into nineteenth-century art | 6 June
Due to the announced train strike, we regret to inform you that the symposium scheduled for Friday, 6 June, has been cancelled.
We are in the process of rescheduling the event and will keep you informed as new details become available. Thank you for your understanding, and we look forward to welcoming you on the new date.
Date: 6 June 2025
Location: Leiden University
Attendance Fees: €15 (includes tea, coffee, and drinks)
€30 (includes lunch as well)
Programme available via email.
Graag vóór aanvang het juiste bedrag overmaken op rekening:
NL56DEUT0446607460 t.n.v. Universiteit van Amsterdam o.v.v. WBS R.2026.0025 / Sectiedag Leiden.
Aanmelden kan tot 6 juni.
To register: email osk-fgw@uva.nl
Organised by: Alexander Dencher and Lieske Huits
The annual symposium organised by the Research Network of Applied Arts and Historical Interiors of the Dutch Graduate School of Art History will take place on Friday 6 June 2025 at Leiden University. This year’s theme will be New Insights into Nineteenth-Century Art, with Rowan Bain (William Morris Gallery, London) as keynote speaker (see abstract and biography below).
Speakers:
- Naomi Bisping, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
- Eveline Deneer, Utrecht University
- Lieske Huits, Leiden University
- Steven Lauritano, Leiden University
- Matthew Mullane, Radboud University, Nijmegen
- Cesar Rodriguez Salinas, Kunstmuseum, The Hague
Tulips and Peacocks: The Influence of Art from the Islamic World on William Morris
This talk will discuss the influence of art from the Islamic world on William Morris (1834–1896), one of Britain’s most important 19th-century designers and thinkers. A principal founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, Morris was responsible for producing hundreds of patterns for wallpapers, furnishing fabrics, carpets, and embroideries, helping to introduce a new aesthetic into British interiors.
In 2024–25, Rowan Bain co-curated a major exhibition on the subject at the William Morris Gallery, London, and edited the accompanying book, Tulips and Peacocks: William Morris and Art from the Islamic World (Yale University Press). Bain will reveal how new research brought together Morris’s personal collection of carpets, textiles, metalwork, and ceramics—primarily from Iran, Syria, and Turkey—for the first time since his death, demonstrating their influence on his celebrated patterns.
Ranging from popular 19th-century tourist merchandise to rare artefacts of historical significance, Morris’s collection of Islamic art was both decorative and didactic and has a valuable role in expanding our understanding of his experiential approach to learning. With Morris’s patterns more popular than ever, Bain explores how moving beyond a Eurocentric perspective on his influences and understanding can help explain his enduring appeal today.
Rowan Bain
Rowan Bain is Principal Curator of the William Morris Gallery, London, where she oversees the collections, exhibitions and public programme. She is co-curator of the 2024-25 exhibition William Morris and Art from the Islamic World and editor of the accompanying catalogue published by Yale University Press. Her past exhibitions include Althea McNish: Colour Is Mine (2022), Kehinde Wiley: The Yellow Wallpaper (2020) and May Morris: Art & Life (2017). Previously she was Assistant Curator, Middle East Section, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. She is the author of William Morris’s Flowers (Thames & Hudson/V&A, 2019), co-author of May Morris Arts & Crafts Designer (Thames & Hudson/V&A, 2017) and most recently contributed to Women Pioneers of the Arts and Crafts Movement (Thames & Hudson/V&A, 2025). She is currently co-editing the collected letters of May Morris with Anna Mason and Margaretta Frederick.