Sir Cedric Morris at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich

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Welsh painter and horticulturist Morris was a self-taught artist who attended the Paris academies as a young man. He was part of art communities in Newlyn, Cornwall (1919-20), Paris (1921-6) and London (1926-39). Although he experimented with abstraction around 1922, he left when it moved away from representation. Between 1937 and 1975 Morris and Lett-Haines directed the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing; in 1940 the school was relocated to Morris's home at Benton End, Hadleigh, Suffolk, where he cultivated a garden and bred irises. Morris's paintings combine strong color with pictorial economy, often with unusual tactility. Conveyed with great immediacy, a painting's principal motif is usually juxtaposed boldly with a contrasting background. His subjects include still-lifes and flower paintings like Iris Seedlings (1943; London, Tate); landscapes and townscapes from local and worldwide travels; animals and birds such as Greenland Falcon (1928; Belfast, Ulster Mus.). Some of his most striking works are penetrating portraits, for instance that of his student Lucian Freud (1940; London, Tate). The attitudes implied by his paintings range from tenderness to satire. Morris, averse to English tastefulness, seemed closer to the sensibility of Neue Sachlichkeit at times. His paintings include protests against prudery, environmental pollution and hypocrisy, as in Entry of Moral Turpitude into New York Harbour. This object is part of Scan The World. Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks and landmarks from across the globe for public access free. Scan the World is an open source community effort; if you have interesting items around you and want to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how you can help.