Kate Faulkner gets first exhibition at Fitzwilliam Museum — SkimNews
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- The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge will open "A Call to Art: William Morris and the pre-Raphaelites" on 23 October — the first exhibition dedicated to Kate Faulkner's work as a designer, maker and workshop supervisor at Morris & Co, running until 3 May 2027.
- Kate Faulkner was the first person after William Morris to design wallpapers and fabrics for Morris & Co and one of only four designers he ever trusted to do so, with her 1879 Mallow wallpaper still sold by the company today.
- A 6.3-metre oak and silvered-gesso altarpiece commissioned from Faulkner for Morris & Co in 1886 will go on public display for the first time, alongside her textile designs and a tile depicting Penelope.
- New research by Karen Livingstone has identified a lost Artemis embroidery made by Faulkner for Red House, placing her at the very moment Morris and his circle decided to create their own interiors company in 1861.
- Livingstone is appealing for public help to trace descendants of Faulkner's sister Lucy Orrinsmith to find a photograph or portrait of the designer — no image of her is known to exist.
Why it matters: The exhibition challenges a century of art-historical narrative that credited Morris & Co's success to its male founders. By linking Faulkner's Red House embroidery to the firm's 1861 conception, curators argue she was present at the origin of one of Britain's most commercially enduring decorative-art companies — whose wallpapers she helped design are still sold today.
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