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The exhibition "Love is Enough" which opened on Saturday at Modern Art Oxford juxtaposes two giants of 19th and 20th century art who at first sight would seem to come from quite different worlds.
The exhibition curated by current high-flying artist Jeremy Deller, who won the internationally-acclaimed Turner Prize for contemporary art in 2004, sets the works of 19th century pre-Raphaelite painter, poet and businessman William Morris (1834- 1896) side by side with that of the American artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987), who among other achievements was one of the first artists to grasp and project what 20th century celebrity culture could mean in terms of art for the masses and mass-produced art.
Morris and Warhol came from widely different worlds, with Morris's work connected in the public mind with medieval imagery and floral wallpaper, while Warhol achieved a stardom -- and perhaps notoriety which he would have acclaimed equally as much -- for his leading role in the alternative art world of East Coast United States from the 1960s onwards.
Yet as the exhibition at Modern Art Oxford demonstrates they shared a wish to be contradictory; both were set against the status quo of their time but also became rich from the art world
In addition, both men also enjoyed large sprawling careers, which covered a wide spectrum of art forms. Both also set up studios to produce their work, with Morris established a factory, in Merton Abbey in London to produce work using traditional craft methods.
Warhol setting up his art hub, which he called the Factory, in New York and it was as much a social hub as an artist's studio to produce large amounts of art.
For exhibition curator, former Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller, both Warhol and Morris also enjoyed a key similarity -- they were hugely interested in a mythical 'Camelot', which for Morris was the beauty of medieval art and stories, especially that of the tales of King Arthur, and which for Warhol was the world of celebrity, specifically the stars of Hollywood cinema.
Deller told Xinhua that for Warhol, who came from a poor working class background in the industrial city of Pittsburgh, film stars represented a dream to admire and a contrast to his mundane upbringing and he avidly collected signed photographs of Hollywood stars as a young man.
"That love of beauty and of celebrity never really left him," said Deller, "And it was likewise with Morris with medieval literature."
This fascination continued for both of them until their last days, said Deller, who had chosen a portrait of film star Elizabeth Taylor made by Warhol in 1985 two years before his death to hang opposite one of Morris's giant final pieces "The Attainment", part of his "Holy Grail" tapestries series based on the Arthurian tale of the Knights of the Round Table on their quest to find the grail.
For Deller these pieces represent a metaphorical search for a holy grail in their work by both artists which provided a constant theme in their art and lives from early days until their deaths.
Deller also said that both artists had a strong interest in spreading their work beyond rich elites or narrow social circles, and making them available to the masses.
Morris became a newspaper publisher and pamphleteer to promote his radical socialist believes, even walking the streets wearing an A Board bearing bills advertising his paper.
Warhol's work documented the social and political changes in America during an era that saw the breaking down of society barriers based on race.
Warhol was also a magazine publisher, founding "Interview" magazine in 1969, which often contained material that reflected his continued interest in celebrity.
He also believed that art or a product should be widely available to all cheaply or at no cost, a belief which anticipated the Internet, Deller said, "which Warhol would have loved".
His creation of his workspace the Factory also pre-dated the creation by creative and media organizations in the 21st century of creative office environments where work and play are intended to combine.
Morris's legacy is also enduring, and has had over 100 more years to prove itself than Warhol's.
The business he founded is still running, and his beautiful designs for wallpaper are now iconic and instantly recognizable, and his production techniques and wide-ranging career have been and continue to be an inspiration to artists, said Deller.
The exhibition runs at Modern Art Oxford until March 8 next year.
