Strawberry Thief
Medium
plain weave cotton, discharge printed
Dimensions
88.3 × 99.1 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Henry Chisholm
Accession Number
1937.696
Tags
male
About this artwork
Perhaps the most recognizable of Morris’s textiles, Strawberry Thief celebrates the thrushes in Kelmscott Manor’s garden. May Morris remarked, “You can picture my Father going out in the early morning and watching the rascally thrushes at work on the fruit beds and telling the gardener who growls, ‘I’d like to wring their necks!’ that no bird in the garden must be touched.” With Strawberry Thief, Morris perfected the indigo-discharge process, which required the entire cloth to be dyed blue befor...