What William Morris thinks about creativity
English designer, writer and socialist (1834 to 1896); author of Signs of Change.
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2 dated positions, c. 1883–1888, in their own words. Our reading of what William Morris has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our readingArt cannot result from external compulsion, because the labour that produces it is voluntary
Their wordsIn other words, I believe that art cannot be the result of external compulsion; the labour which goes to produce it is voluntary, and partly undertaken for the sake of the labour itself, partly for the sake of the hope of producing something which, when done, shall give pleasure to the user of it.
↗Signs of Change: Seven Lectures (1888; 1896 edition)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsAt the risk of being accused of sentimentality, I will say that since this is so, since the work which produces the things that should be matters of art is but a burden and a slavery, I exult in this at least, that it cannot produce art; that all it can do lies between stark utilitarianism and idiotic sham.
↗Signs of Change: Seven Lectures (1888; 1896 edition)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book