A ceramic tile produced by William De Morgan was often engineered to interlock with others, forming expansive, intricate patterns when installed in sequence. Operating within the late nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts movement, he transitioned from decorative stained glass and furniture design to technical mastery of pottery, glazes, and firing chemistry, eventually becoming a widely read novelist in his final years.
Early Influences and Artistic Training
Born in 1839 in Gower Street, London, De Morgan was the son of mathematician Augustus De Morgan and writer Sophia Elizabeth Frend. He was raised in an intellectually liberal home that encouraged his creative interests. At twenty, he enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools but soon left, finding the institution incompatible with his aspirations. His association with William Morris introduced him to the Pre-Raphaelite circle, where he began designing stained glass and furniture for Morris & Co. between 1863 and 1872.
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De Morgan shifted his primary focus to ceramics in 1872, establishing a pottery in Chelsea. He spent the following years experimenting with the technical aspects of his craft, including the chemistry of glazes and methods of pattern transfer. By the mid-1870s, he successfully revived the technique of lustreware, incorporating a metallic surface characteristic of Italian maiolica and Hispano-Moresque pottery. His aesthetic was heavily influenced by 15th and 16th-century İznik ware, utilizing a palette of turquoise, manganese purple, and Indian red to depict fantastical creatures and geometric motifs.
Expansion and Financial Challenges
In 1888, De Morgan moved his factory from Merton Abbey to Fulham, entering a partnership with architect Halsey Ricardo. Despite commissions for public rooms on twelve P&O liners and the Tsar's yacht, the pottery consistently struggled with financial viability. He often relied on infusions of capital from his wife, the painter Evelyn De Morgan. Following technical and commercial difficulties, he departed the pottery business in 1907, noting that while he had spent his life attempting to create beautiful objects, there was little market demand for them.
Literary Career and Final Years
After leaving the ceramic industry, De Morgan achieved unexpected success as a novelist. His first book, Joseph Vance, was published in 1906 and became a major sensation in both the United Kingdom and the United States. He continued to write throughout his later life, producing works such as Alice-for-Short and the two-volume It Never Can Happen Again. De Morgan died in 1917 of trench fever and was buried at Brookwood Cemetery.
Fast facts
- Born: 1839, London
- Died: 1917, Chelsea
- Movement: Arts and Crafts movement
- Primary occupations: Potter, ceramicist, novelist
- Burial site: Brookwood Cemetery
- Notable literary work: Joseph Vance (1906)
- Pottery location periods: Chelsea, Merton Abbey, Fulham
Questions readers ask
What motivated De Morgan to move from pottery to writing?
He left the pottery industry in 1907 due to persistent financial instability and a perceived lack of market demand for his decorative work.
What influenced the designs on his tiles?
His work was heavily influenced by medieval patterns and 15th and 16th-century İznik ware, often referred to as Persian style.
Achievements
- Worked as novelist, ceramicist and writer
