Birds and fruits Merian Morris by Pública Rework

Birds and fruits Merian Morris is a fine art print by Pública Rework. It brings together two figures who studied the living world from opposite ends of the same impulse. Maria Sibylla Merian, who painted what a scarlet ibis looks like when it has just laid an egg. William Morris, who designed how a fruiting branch should repeat across a wall.

Birds and fruits Merian Morris combines elements from William Morris's Fruit Pattern (1862) and Ispahan (1888) with Maria Sibylla Merian's Scarlet Ibis with an Egg (1699-1700). Printed by Pública Rework on Fine Art Freja paper (265 g), available in 30×40 cm and 50×70 cm. Limited edition with certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

Two Centuries Apart, One Subject in Common

Maria Sibylla Merian and William Morris never met. They lived more than a century and a half apart, and they did entirely different work. What they shared was the living world as their subject, and the patience to study it long enough that something specific got recorded.

Merian was a German-born naturalist who spent the late 1600s and early 1700s painting insects, birds, and the plants they depended on. Her best-known work came from a self-funded expedition to Suriname, where she documented metamorphosis with a precision that pre-dated formal entomology. Scarlet Ibis with an Egg (1699-1700) belongs to that period. The bird. The egg. The moment between.

Morris worked in Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century. He believed that ordinary domestic objects, including wallpaper, were worth designing properly. Fruit Pattern (1862) and Ispahan (1888) repeat across a surface in a way that gives the eye somewhere to settle without ever standing still.

What Pública Rework Found in Pattern Life

Pública Rework's contribution is the act of placing them on the same surface and seeing what holds. The internal working title for this print, Pattern Life, is the clue. Morris's repeating fruiting motif becomes the field. Merian's scarlet ibis sits inside it, holding an egg, contrasted by the green hues of Ispahan.

The result is a piece in which the decorative and the documentary share weight. The red of the ibis answers the green of the leaves. The egg, central, is the small still point in a surface that otherwise repeats. Looked at long enough, the print becomes legible as two ways of paying attention to the same thing: Morris through pattern, Merian through observation. Pública Rework's move is the one that lets them be one image.

This is the second print in the Pública Rework dialogue with William Morris on NOKUKO. The first, Lifestory D'Orbigny Morris, brings Morris's Fruit Pattern into conversation with Charles Henry Dessalines d'Orbigny's nineteenth-century scientific illustrations. Birds and fruits Merian Morris extends the dialogue back another century and a half, into Merian's earlier naturalist tradition.

Birds and fruits Merian Morris is printed on Fine Art Freja paper (265 g), a paper chosen for its colour fidelity and its handling of fine line work. It is available in two sizes, 30×40 cm and 50×70 cm, and arrives ready to frame. Each print is part of a limited edition with a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

For every print sold, NOKUKO donates to plant trees. Morris would have approved of that. So, in her own way, would Merian.

About Birds and fruits Merian Morris

What is in the print?
The print combines elements from William Morris's Fruit Pattern (1862) and Ispahan (1888) with Maria Sibylla Merian's Scarlet Ibis with an Egg (1699-1700). Morris's repeating fruiting motif provides the surface. Merian's ibis with egg sits inside it. The red of the ibis contrasts with the green of Ispahan's leaves.

What paper is used?
Fine Art Freja paper (265 g), chosen for its colour fidelity and its ability to hold fine line work over time.

What sizes are available?
30×40 cm and 50×70 cm. Both arrive ready to frame.

Is this a limited edition?
Yes. Each print is a limited edition by Pública Rework and arrives with a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

Written by  NOKUKO.