Lisa Pfeiffer’s work to go on sale at William Morris’s house in Hammersmith

(L) William Morris’s Chrysanthemum wallpaper print; (R) Lisa Pfeiffer’s painted copy of part of the ‘Morris Forward’ mural, which will be on sale at the William Morris Society from September

William Morris museum is refurbished

The William Morris museum in Hammersmith is planning a refurbishment. They are moving things around, making use of currently unused space, and introducing the work of artist Lisa Pfeiffer, whose paintings are inspired by Morris’s work, reimagining his Chrysanthemum design.

The museum is in the coach house and basement of Kelmscott House at 26 Upper Mall, where Morris lived from 1878 until his death in 1896, and is now run by the William Morris Society. It has his original printing press and books with samples of his many wallpaper designs on permanent display, with regular exhibitions and events to celebrate the great Arts & Crafts polymath.

In March Lisa’s work was added to the A4 underpass around the corner.

She won a competition organised by Hammersmith & Fulham Council, with £5,000 prize money to design a mural for the underpass which leads from the new civic centre on the King Street side of the A4 to the Upper Mall, coming out by Rivercourt Rd, just around the corner from Kelmscott House.

Her design was blown up and transferred onto vinyl before being added to the walls.

“This is my first public mural”, she told The Chiswick Calendar. “”I’ve made indoor murals for people’s houses before and for a restaurant in Oakland, California. I worked as a muralist for 15 years until I had kids, when I started painting”.

Lisa and her husband Walter moved here from California in 2018, and she takes part regularly now in Artists At Home open studios.

The mural in the Hammersmith underpass draws the passerby from her modern interpretation of Morris’s Chrysanthemum at the King St end towards a copy of his  version at the Upper Mall end.

“I picked the Chrysanthemum wallpaper from 1877 and every flower along the walkway changes slightly from my version to his”.

Called ‘Morris Forward’, it prepares them to enter the world of William Morris and Victorian London in the olde-worldy streets around the Dove pub, which immediately attracted Lisa and Walter when they moved here.

“We go there all the time. We love it”.

Lisa trained at the Rhode Island School of Design, one of the two top art schools in the United States, and has painted Chrysanthemums and Peonies far longer than she has lived here, “probably indirectly influenced by William Morris”.

Her paintings sell from around £200 – £900 but the Chrysanthemums on sale at the museum will be small paintings, ten x ten inches, on wooden panels edge with gold leaf priced £130. She plans to have prints available as well ready for the opening in September.

Meanwhile you can admire her Chrysanthemums, and William Morris’s on the underpass at Rivercourt Rd and see more of her work on her website.

lisajpfeiffer.com