Couple sells William Morris works

Carmel collection goes to Huntington Museum

The largest private collection of works by the founder of the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States has been sold to the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens by two Carmel residents.

Sanford and Helen Berger reached an agreement with the San Marino museum to sell their collection of William Morris art and documents on Dec. 10. The museum, following established policy, refused to discuss the price of the collection.

"It'll be like having a mistress for 35 years, and then one day she walks out the door," said Sanford Berger, who bought his first Morris piece, a reproduction of "The Canterbury Tales," in 1965.

The Bergers' collection now includes not only hundreds of original Morris drawings and designs, but also more than 2,000 books printed by and written about Morris; tapestries, fabrics and ceramics made by his company, Morris & Co.; and many other Arts and Crafts pieces. Among the highlights are an original pigskin-bound, intricately decorated copy of the same "Canterbury Tales" edition typeset by Morris' Kelmscott Press; the ledger Morris' company used to record fabric dye recipes; and stained glass window panels.

Sanford Berger said the collection has appreciated considerably over the years and that the "Canterbury Tales" book alone is worth 32 times what he paid for it.

William Morris was a 19th-century socialist and designer who believed the manufacturing practices of England's nascent Industrial Revolution oppressed the natural creativity of workers. As an alternative to dull factory work, Morris looked to the production practices of medieval and Renaissance times, which allowed all workers to participate in product design and take pride in well-made products.

To put his ideas into practice, Morris mastered skills as diverse as printmaking and tapestry weaving, and formed egalitarian businesses to make these items. Morris' fabric designs, depicting delicately interwoven vines, flowers, birds and small animals, are still printed by Liberty of London and other fabric makers.

The Bergers' collection began by chance and turned into a lifelong passion. In 1965, Sanford Berger came across a reproduction of Morris' Canterbury Tales and fell in love. Soon, he and his wife were traveling to England every summer to collect more Morris materialand make pilgrimages to the hundreds of churches that still bore his stained glass windows. "It was fun," Helen Berger says. "We'd get to drive through beautiful country all over England and Scotland ... and meet the rectors of the village churches."

The couple, both Harvard-trained architects, have a keen appreciation for Morris' design genius. They collected the archives of Morris' company in 1968, partly to view his drafts and notes. But Sanford Berger admits to being the more Morris-obsessed, noting that his father was an architectural woodcarver whose ornate, three-dimensional scrollwork can be seen in Grace Cathedral, the Bohemian Club and other San Francisco buildings.

Now 80, Sanford Berger jokes that he sold the collection because he "couldn't find a doctor who could tell me how to be immortal."

In reality, however, the Bergers say their children have neither the interest nor the facilities to care for the collection. "The kids said that if the collection descended on them, they'd have the biggest garage sale Carmel has ever seen," Helen Berger says.

To ensure the collection gets proper care, the Bergers began looking to museums. They turned to the Huntington because the institution already has a complementary Arts and Crafts collection, and would make the works available to scholars.

David Zeidberg, director of the Huntington's library division, says that putting the two collections together "makes a deep and sophisticated resource" for scholars of the Arts and Crafts movement. With the addition of the Bergers' collection, Zeidberg said, "it's safe to say that the Huntington has the most significant American collection" of William Morris' work. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London also holds a large Morris collection.

Zeidberg said the Huntington will put samples of the Berger collection on rotating monthly display almost immediately, but will not hold a major show for some time in order to give curators a chance to sort through the material.

The collection's transfer will leave the walls of the Bergers' downstairs hallways and at least one large bedroom virtually bare.

"I've already reserved a bed in the depression ward of the hospital," Sanford Berger jokes.

But the Bergers still get to spend one last Christmas with the collection; the Huntington's movers won't start packing the collection until mid-January.

--Kathleen M. Wong