Willow (Green on Cream)
1874 · Block-printed wallpaper on paper · Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
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About this work
- Artist
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Year
- 1874
- Medium
- Block-printed wallpaper on paper
- Original size
- 69.5 × 58.5 cm
- Collection
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- Movement
- Arts and Crafts
Bright green willow leaves on fine stems scatter over a cream ground with no obvious direction, the colourway closest to how most people picture Morris's willow. William Morris designed Willow in 1874. The Cooper Hewitt describes the leaves as set in a seemingly random pattern, which was exactly his aim: in his 1881 lecture Some Hints on Pattern Designing he urged designers to mask a pattern's construction so that people cannot count its repeats. Thirteen years later he returned to the subject in the larger, more naturalistic Willow Bough. The V&A notes that Morris owned a copy of Gerard's Herball, which illustrates a willow branch. This sheet was printed by Jeffrey & Co. and entered the Cooper Hewitt in 1935.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole sample beneath original typography set in-house. The design is in the public domain.
Where it works
Fresh green leaves on cream feel light and restful in a bedroom, bathroom or small hallway. Pair it with Willow Bough to show the design's two versions at 16×24 in natural wood.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of an Arts and Crafts pattern
- Era
- 19th century (1874)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- decorative, classic
- Rooms
- bedroom, bathroom, hallway or entryway, dorm room
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Hangs alone or as a matched pair; three or more prints are 10% off.
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole design, or a crop?
Is Willow (Green on Cream) in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Willow (Green on Cream) designed?
What size should I choose?
About this design
The Madten promise
The full-bleed print
The pattern printed edge to edge, filling the whole sheet like a panel of the original wallpaper or fabric.





























