For centuries, wallpaper and wall coverings have been an integral component of fine interior design. From decorative Chinese panels to
William Morris’s enduring designs to contemporary papers of today, wallpapers provide a degree of decorative richness and fullness to any interior.
Originating in the late 15th or early 16th century, wallpaper imitated and complemented the use of wall hangings and tapestries, providing a less expensive and more readily accessible form of decoration. In both England and France, craftsmen hand-painted, hand-blocked, or stenciled wallpaper panels for the middle class market, in both decorative graphic motifs and in landscape motifs.
In the 1700’s, England’s and other European countries’ trade with China created the popularity and demand for the intricate, delicate and colorful panels originally produced, it is thought, as gifts from Chinese merchants for their European trade associates. The excellence of the Chinese papers provided motivation for better quality for European-made goods.
By the mid 1800’s, wallpaper companies in England and France provided most of the western world’s wallpaper, providing both hand painted or hand printed wallpapers for the luxury market, and mass produced papers for the middle/upper class market. Innovations in printing technology allowed a huge variety of popular fashionable themes, landscapes, scenes and objects. Today, with advanced production and printing methods, wallpapers run the gamut from traditional designs to high resolution photographic images.
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London features a collection of wallpapers, mostly from the 20th century, and the Victoria and Albert Museum’s website offers a very interesting and informative history of wallpaper (specifically English):
In the U.S., the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum features an extensive collection of over 10,000 European and American wallpapers, with examples dating from the 1600’s through modern times.
Resources:
Cooper-Hewitt Museum of the Smithsonian Institution An article by Michele Leight of
The City Review 'zine which reviewed the 2001 Cooper-Hewitt "Rooms With a View: Landscape and Wallpaper" exhibition at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City.