Cedric Morris: A Life in Art and Plants

Cedric Morris (1889–1982) was an accomplished painter of flowers and landscapes, and a plantsman whose irises are an enduring legacy. This is a timely study of a man whose stock has risen appreciably in recent years, with two London exhibitions, a stand at the Chelsea Flower Show and a surge in prices for his paintings. With his lifelong partner, Arthur Lett-Haines, Cedric Morris set up the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Suffolk, where students included the young Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling. Drawing on archive material and extensively illustrated with the work of Morris as well as artists who became part of his circle, this book explores Morris’s family roots in South Wales, follows his travels in Europe and beyond in the 1920s, and evokes the singular camaraderie of the East Anglian School. Read more