William Morris, socialist, had strong views on giving the workers access to healthful rural space. He has survived into our own times in the guise of soft furnishings and wallpaper but of the utopian socialist, not much remains.
The William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow – near what was once the great forest of Epping, and is still one of this part of Britain's most ancient woodlands – keeps the flame alive with Radical Landscapes: Art, Identity and Activism. You encounter the agenda early on with the inimitable figure of John Berger (Ways of Seeing) on screen, taking issue back in 1972 with Gainsborough’s portrait of Mr and Mrs Joseph Andrews since they were “landowners and their proprietary attitude … is visible in their stance”.
