Lewis Foreman Day (29 January 1845 – 18 April 1910) was a British decorative artist and industrial designer and an important figure in the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

Biography

Day was born at

Peckham Rye Peckham Rye is an open space and road in the London Borough of Southwark, London, England. The roughly triangular open space lies to the south of Peckham and consists of two contiguous areas, Peckham Rye Common to the north and Peckham Rye Park t ...

, south London, on 29 January 1845. His father, Samuel, was a wine merchant. His mother was Mary Ann Lewis. He was educated in France, at

Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Merchant Taylors' School is an 11–18 boys Public school (United Kingdom), public day school, founded in 1561 in London. The school has occupied various campuses. From 1933 it has been at Sandy Lodge, a site close to Northwood, London, Nort ...

and subsequently in Germany. He was first employed as a clerk, then, at the age to twenty he worked for the glass painters and designers Lavers, Barraud and Westlake. He moved to the stained glass makers of

Clayton and Bell Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832� ...

, where he designed the cartoons. In 1870 he worked for Heaton, Butler and Bayne on the decoration of

Eaton Hall, Cheshire Eaton Hall is the country house of the Duke of Westminster. It is south of the village of Eccleston, Cheshire, Eccleston in Cheshire, England. The house is surrounded by its own formal gardens, parkland, farmland and woodland. The estate cove ...

. He started his own business in London in 1870, expanding his activities beyond glass painting to a wide range of media including wallpapers for W. B. Simpson & Co., textiles for Turnbull & Stockdale, and tiles for Maw's and Pilkington's. He was an active member of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, one time master of the Art Workers Guild, which he helped to found, and a member of the Council of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

(RSA) for much of the period between 1877 and his death. He was an influential educator and wrote widely on design and pattern. His Cantor Lectures on Ornamental Design for the RSA (1886) led to a series of publications, including ''The Anatomy of Pattern'' (1887), ''The Planning of Ornament'' (1887), ''Pattern Design'' (1903), ''Ornament and its Application'' (1904), and ''Nature and Ornament'' (1908–9). He published in many journals, including the ''Magazine of Art'', the ''Art Journal'' and the ''Journal of Decorative Art''. Other books were ''Windows'' (1897), ''Stained Glass'' (1903), ''Alphabets Old and New'' (1898) and ''Lettering in Ornament'' (1902). He was an examiner for the Department of Science and Art and later the

Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

. He lectured at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

(RCA). In 1910 he wrote a dissenting report to the government Committee of Inquiry into the RCA, in which he argued for greater emphasis on principles of design against the growing Arts and Crafts orthodoxy of teaching design by direct working in materials; in this he shared the Committee of Inquiry's reservations about the methods of the RCA's professor of design, W. R. Lethaby. He also made a critique of what he saw as un-businesslike Arts and Crafts attitudes in ''Moot Points'', a dialogue with his friend

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

. He served on the consultative committee of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

when it transferred to its new building in

Cromwell Road Cromwell Road is a major London road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, designated as part of the A4 road (Great Britain), A4. It was created in the 19th century and is said to be named after Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver Cromwel ...

in 1909, and influenced the arrangement its collections there. His own work is well represented in the museum's collection. His professional association with

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

and other key figures of the Arts and Crafts movement, such as Crane and W. A. S. Benson, placed him at the centre of contemporary applied arts in Britain, yet, according to his biographer, Joan Maria Hanson, he became neglected in histories of the period.Joan Maria Hansen, ''Lewis Foreman Day (1845-1910): Unity in Design and Industry'', Antique Collector's Club, 2007 He married Ruth Emma Morrish In 1873. They had one child, Ruth. The family are buried together on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Lewis Foreman 1845 births 1910 deaths 19th-century English artists Arts and Crafts movement artists Artists from London Burials at Highgate Cemetery Masters of the Art Worker's Guild