Barbara Krasner-Khait looks at the development of wallcoverings.
"Of paper there are divers sorts, finer and coarser,
as also brown and blue paper, with divers designs that are printed
for the hanging of rooms; truly they are very pretty, and make
houses of the more ordinary people look neat." - John Houghton,
Collection for Improvement of Husbandry and Trade (1669)
THE TRADITION OF wall decoration dates
back to Egyptian and Roman wall painting. Centuries later, and
particularly in cooler climates, people used fabric to cover
walls and windows to keep drafts out. In the homes of the well-to-do,
these fabrics were elaborate, resplendent tapestries, which
also adorned the walls of European palaces and castles. They
were not only practical, but decorative.
the US Civil War in 1863, J.M Swords tore wallpaper
from the walls of his own home on which to print his
Daily Citizen newspaper and get news to his fellow Confederate
A Cheap Substitute
Wallpaper began as a cheap substitute for tapestry and paneling.
Some historians believe that the use of wallpaper dates back
to the 1400s. The first wallpapers were decorations for wood
panels, introduced into England by Flemish craftsmen. The papers
were small squares with images printed by wood blocks, which
were then colored in by hand. As the desire increased to find
a less expensive alternative to the wall-hangings of the rich,
printers produced simple yet decorative paper panels.
In the 1500s, the wealthy continued to cover their walls but
now they did so with brocades, velvets and even embossed leather.
The earliest known wallpaper in England dates back to 1509 -
an Italian-inspired woodcut pomegranate design printed on the
back of a proclamation issued by Henry VIII. Discovered in 1911
at Christ's College in Cambridge, the paper is attributed to
Hugo Goes, a York printer. In general, wallpaper of this period
depicted floral designs and murals. Wallpaper's popularity increased
in Elizabethan England. Throughout Europe, a fascination began
with these fine papers that offered protection against dampness
and an improved ability to handle fireplace smoke.
But wallpaper wasn't purely a Western invention. The Chinese
began to produce it in the early 1600s, showered with painted
birds, flowers and landscapes on rice paper formed in rectangular
A Period Of Innovation
The 1600s introduced a period of French innovation leading to
wide acceptance of wallpaper. Writer Savary des Bruslons noted
"a dominotier makes a type of tapestry on paper . . . which
is used by the poorer classes in Paris to cover the walls of
their huts or their shops." Such dominotiers gained the reputation
of experts in emulating fabric on paper.
Papers of this period fell into two classes, irrespective of
whether they were produced in England or France: simple and
complicated. The simple typically depicted a geometric pattern
repeat, printed from a single wood block. The complicated consisted
of more complex designs, including shields, vases or flowers
and were created from several blocks. Either way, designs were
first printed in black onto the paper. Using a kind of stencil,
color was applied. The less expensive papers were printed less
carefully from worn blocks and sold at rural fairs. The more
costly papers were produced from carefully carved, new wooden
blocks and were printed and colored carefully as well.
The 1600s also marked the debut of flock paper. Flock is the
small shearing of wool left over from the manufacture of cloth.
The process involved painting the background color onto paper
or canvas, printing or stenciling the design onto it with a
slow-drying adhesive, and scattering the flock over the adhesive,
producing a velvet-like pile over the chosen design. The practice
began about 1600 but enjoyed its heyday from 1715-45 when exceptional
quality paper of this type was imported from France into England.
Though called wallpaper, the paper was not attached directly
to the wall during this period. Instead, it was pasted onto
linen and the linen was then attached to the walls with copper
tacks. Sometimes the linen was attached to wooden battens, which
were then attached to the walls.
From the 1680s, wallpaper offered an economical alternative
to tapestries and leather hangings. Individual sheets were joined
together in groups of 12 or more to form a roll, enabling faster
printing and complex designs. New production techniques also
meant that hanging paper required more skill.
Color My World
Zuber wallpaper company took advantage of US nationalism
and republished its "Views of North America" wallpaper
as "The War of American Independence". Slight adjustments
were made to the prints so they would appear to depict
scenes such as the Bost Tea Party.
By the beginning of the 1700s, simple black and white papers
had virtually disappeared in Europe. Colored papers were in
vogue, especially imported paper from China.
In France, wallpapers evolved from the end papers used in bookbinding.
The first ones were printed in small squares in marbleized patterns.
Eventually, the squares were glued together into a long sheet
and rolled up for convenience. Wallpaper became a royal affair.
In 1778, Louis XVI issued a decree that required the length
of a wallpaper roll be about 34 feet.
Patterns imitated scenic tapestries, brocatelles and patterned
velvets. Americans often imported these papers. For instance,
the wallpaper in the Duncan House in Haverhill, MA was designed
by Carle Vernet and printed in Paris about 1814. Made of separate
panels, it shows a single scene of a hunt.
The French continued to innovate and invented a machine to print
paper in 1785. Wallpaper design began to attract artists and
not just woodblock printers. Chinese paper continued its popularity
and its style of hand-painted birds, trees, pagodas and sometimes
Chinese figures in landscapes became known as chinoiserie. The
paper found its way into manor houses, palaces and chateaux.
It was usually applied in panels and was sometimes edged with
gilt. European painters copied the Chinese designs, but the
French-produced papers were the most sought after.
At first, wallpaper appeared in minor rooms while fabric continued
to be used in the major ones. Use of wallpaper became so widespread
that it inspired the introduction of a tax in England by 1712
on paper that was "painted, printed or stained to serve as hangings".
Most papers of this time imitated textiles and their manufacturers
boasted that they could emulate damask, velvet and needlework.
One major designer of this period was John Baptist Jackson,
born in 1700, and a pupil of the engraver Kirkhall. In 1725
he went to Paris and came into contact with paper stainer Jean
Michel Papillon before he went on to Italy and became interested
in Italian Renaissance design. In 1746, he returned to England,
determined to revive English wallpaper printing, which had taken
a beating from the French.
Dawn of the Designer
The French had taken over the industry. They paid their designers
well and French nobility paid special commissions for custom
papers. One manufacturer deserves special mention, Jean-Baptiste
Réveillon, who became a "Manufacture Royale". For some years
before the French Revolution, his factory in Paris produced
the finest and most beautiful papers for the French aristocracy.
It was attacked by the angry mob in 1789 and Réveillon fled
to England. The factory reopened with the help of others who
found favor with the Revolutionaries by printing patriotic papers
in red, white and blue. Réveillon took his inspiration from
painted decoration on wooden paneling, doors and shutters -
a style originated by Raphael in the Vatican. His designs featured
long vertical and graceful designs of urns, flowers, swans,
birds and beasts block-printed in dozens of different colors,
and flowing upward from a central motif. His papers were to
be hung as panels, separated by borders and plain wallpaper
sections. He also introduced papers that used strong colors
- reds, ochres, terracottas, greens and azure blues - in addition
to the traditional black. Classical motifs, medallions and dancing
figures filled the panel area. Réveillon papers became a popular
export to the US during the 1700s and can still be seen in New
A Taxing Situation
back in England, wallpapers were being colored by hand on the
wall to outwit the tax man. The industry continued to grow in
spite of the taxes and grew strong enough that by 1773, Parliament
lifted the ban on imported papers, though customs duties still
applied. Taxation continued into the next century and generated
a significant amount of revenue. By 1806, falsification of wallpaper
stamps was added to the list of offenses punishable by death.
To deal with the tax, English manufacturers sought to increase
sales by catering to the mass market. They simplified their
designs. This allowed the French to maintain their firm grip
on the finer, more complicated designs.
use of wallpaper borders is almost as old as wallpaper itself.
Borders, originally used to hide the tacks used to hold the
wallpaper in position, assumed their own importance by the late
1700s, because they could visually alter a room's proportions.
Border designs featured florals and architectural friezes. Many
of these were printed to look like a cornice and hung at a junction
of the wall and ceiling to add importance and grandeur to the
room. Often, they were used to outline doors and windows or
architectural details within the room such as a fireplace.
the beginning of the 1800s, dividing the wall into three parts
- the dado, filler and frieze - became fashionable. Borders
differentiated each section, which bore distinctive yet interrelated
patterns. This style is often seen in Victorian homes.
- reminiscent of a military campaign with their military colors
- became popular in Napoleonic France and in England, not only
on the walls but extending to the ceilings as well. The practice
spread throughout Europe. Panoramic landscapes were also popular
in France. Never before had designs been attempted on such a
large scale. To cover the walls of a large room without repeating
a scene, 20 to 30 lengths were printed, with each length about
10 feet high and 20 inches wide (300cm by 50cm). Massive amounts
of time and energy, not to mention risk, were required to print
such scenes, using thousands of hand-carved blocks and hundreds
of colors. For the most part, the Zuber company in Rixheim and
Dufour in Mâcon and Paris produced them. In 1852, Zuber took
advantage of a nationalist wave in the US and republished a
previous paper, "Views of North America", as "The War of American
Independence". He substituted foreground figures so the Boston
Harbor became the Boston Tea Party. Peaceful scenes became battlefields.
were not common in England as they did not accommodate the ancestral
portraits the British preferred as wall decoration.
most of wallpaper's history, it has been created by
hand using carved blocks. A printing machine was first
adapted for wallpaper in 1839.
It was now Britain's turn to innovate. The repeal of wallpaper
taxation in 1836 encouraged designers in England to produce
very complex designs that became popular in the Victorian era.
And a breakthrough in production, credited to a calico printing
firm, Potters of Darwen in Lancashire, England, adapted a printing
machine for wallpaper, patented in 1839. Wallpaper was now applied
directly to plaster. As production increased, prices dropped,
and more and more people were able to buy it for their homes.
Wallpaper suitable for a child's nursery appeared. In the Victorian
era, front halls boasted bright colors that often included wallpaper.
By the late 1800s, British designers like William Morris and
Owen Jones, author of The Grammar of Ornament (1856), began
to react against the excesses of the mid-century. They wanted
to restore good taste and re-establish quality workmanship.
Morris, for example, insisted on the purest colors and techniques
and his influence is evident in the hundreds of mass-produced
papers manufactured from the 1880s until the end of the century.
By the 1920s, futurist and cubist designs arrived on the
market making both modern and traditional patterns available.
Elite society reverted to using fabric like silk and paint finishes,
considering paper inferior. Practical innovations continued
such as vinyl wallpaper's appearance in 1947 and pre-pasted
papers in the 1950s.
This article originally appeared in our October/November