Collecting ideas

The ideas of British designer and social reformer William Morris (1834–96) were a major influence on Walter Cook’s approach to collecting. Morris advocated the revival of handcrafting – a reaction against burgeoning mass-production.

Morris also believed that art should be available to everyone: ‘What business have we with art at all unless all can share it?’ For this reason, he was seen by art historian Nikolaus Pevsner as a forefather of modernism, which embraced functional designs and took them to a wide audience. Somewhat ironically, mass-production – which Morris had opposed – facilitated this access.

Ideas like these fuelled Walter’s collecting pursuits. Pevsner’s book Pioneers of Modern Design, which featured Morris, became Walter’s key guide as he built his collection through the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. By the time the collection was gifted to the nation, it traversed pre-modernist works from the late 1800s, transition pieces like art-nouveau pewter, and post-1945 modernist designs from Europe.

Text taken from exhibition Walter Cook: A Collector's Quest 2012.