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"Jasmine" Wallpaper Design, 1872 Giclee Print Morris, William 18 in. x 24 in. Buy at AllPosters.com Framed Mounted The invention of paper came to Europe from the East in the 12th century but it was not until the 16th century that wallpaper was used extensively. The oldest surviving fragments of European wallpaper are English. An early 16th-century example was found in the Master's Lodge, Christ's College, Cambridge which has a large-scale pattern adapted from a contemporary damask. These English papers are not painted, but blocked. In the 17th century in France painted wallpapers became increasingly popular, the more usual designs being diaper patterns, stripes, cartouche and flower arrangements.
Occasional landscapes and figures appeared. In none of these papers was there a repeat pattern. Each sheet was painted separately and was not connected with the next. At first these painted papers were only used by country people, but by 1700 their use had extended to the better-class houses of Paris. In England printed papers of small design were now common, though elaborate papers were sometimes painted in oils. Flock papers, produced in the same way as flock prints, were fashionable in both England and France.
In the middle of the 17th century, wallpaper design was subjected to a new influence from the East. Travellers to China brought back sheets of paper painted with designs made up into sets. By the beginning of the 18th century these became one of the most popular of all wall decorations, painted as they were with designs of landscape, birds and flowers and scenes of domestic life. Meanwhile in Germany, where wallpapers until this time had scarcely been used, a unique type of wall covering was being produced known as gaufragé paper. The design was printed in outline from a copper plate and impressed in relief.
In France the popularity of the wallpaper was greater than anywhere else. In 1688 Papillon started the first great printing house for wallpapers. He invented continuous patterns and lustre paper, using powdered metals. His device of a repeating design was widely imitated.
The invention of the method of printing from wood blocks is attributed to John Baptist Jackson who had a wallpaper factory in Battersea and published a book on the subject in 1754. Jackson's designs were panels with varied borders. He was particularly proud of his relief effects with statues in niches. The technique of multicolour printing from wood blocks was brought to perfection by George and Frederick Eckhardt in 1750. English techniques in wallpaper design were so popular that they were adopted in France.
English flock papers had always been printed in one colour on a ground; the French in the early 1760's began to print flock patterns in polychrome, thus producing an effective imitation of the elaborate brocades of the During the Revolution two Englishmen, Arthur and Robert set up a paper manufactory in Paris. They specialized in sepia and grisaille prints, the designs consisting of panels with architectural frames enclosing engravings after pictures by Boucher, Fragonard and Hubert Robert. In 1797 the house of Zuber was founded at Rixheim where in 1939 wallpapers were still being produced. In 1893 Zuber began to publish a series of panorama papers, the first of which, Swiss mountain scenes, were painted by Mongin. They were followed by scenes from all parts of the world. Joseph Dufour, a great rival of Zuber, was noted for his grisaille papers. Another firm of the 19th century, that of Dauptain, issued a wide range of designs including Renaissance, Rococo and Pompadour patterns as well as a paper illustrating Moliére Precieuses Ridicules.
A quaint product of the early 19th century was the commemorative wallpaper. One such was issued in honour of Washington and showed a repeat design of a tomb inscribed 'Sacred to Washington'. Another similar paper intended for the French royalists commemorated the Battle of Waterloo.
With the perfection of mechanical methods of printing, design in wallpaper sharply declined. By 1867 the last of the great scenic papers had been produced. In 1856, when Japan was opened to Western commerce, a new type of paper became known which simulated embossed leather. There was one notable reaction against the degradation of design caused by machinery. Im 1861 William Morris established the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. at 8 Red Lion Square for the design and execution of mural decoration. The firm attempted its first wallpaper in 1862, the rose trellis design. In all, Morris made between 70 and 80 wallpaper designs, the printing of which he supervised in person. The reaction begun by Morris developed with the Art Nouveau movement. Art Nouveau wallpaper designers included Gussmann, Beckerath, Weigl and Hoffmann of Munich and Gallé, Grasset and Follot in France. Twentieth-century movements in painting were reflected in wallpaper design in the work of Andre Maré, Duchamps-Villon, La Fresnaye, Villon, Marie Laurencin and Laprade. A continous effort is being made in England to maintain a small proportion of wallpaper designs of merit to supplement the regular commercial productions. Designers of ability include Edward Bawden, John Aldridge and E. Q. Nicholson.
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