The story of
wallpaper itself actually began in ancient China, first
because the Chinese invented paper, and secondly because they
glued rice papers onto their walls
as early as 200 BC.
Some time in the 8th century, a
captured Chinese prisoner spilled
the beans to the Arabs, who, in turn, spread the knowledge of
papermaking throughout Europe.
Jean
Bourdichon received 24 livres for painting 50 rolls of paper
with angels on a blue background for Louis XI of France in 1481.
Other well-heeled Europeans commissioned
artists to paint paper for
their walls, but real wallpaper can hardly be said to have
existed till the
advent of the printing press.
A guild of paperhangers was established
in France in 1599,
but only small sheets of decorated paper were available.
Jean Papillon,
a French engraver, started making block designs in matching,
continuous patterns
in 1675, and wallpaper as we know it today was on its way.
The manufacturing methods developed
by the British are significant,
and the products from 18th century London workshops became all
the rage.
At first, fashion-conscious Londoners
ordered expensive hand-painted
papers that imitated architectural details or materials like
marble and
stucco, but eventually wallpapers won favor on their own merits.
Borders
resembling a tasseled braid or a swag of fabric were often
added, and
flocked papers that looked like cut velvet were immensely
popular.
In early America, colonials copied
European fashions.
After the Revolutionary War, Americans
set up workshops of their own. Paper
was all the fashion, from neoclassical looks to rambling roses.
American firms made their share of
patriotic "commemorative" papers, which we
have come to know from trunk linings and bandboxes.
In the Victorian era, rooms paraded
print upon print, mostly in garish colors, and the advent of
machine-made wallpaper put the cabbage rose and arabesque patterns
within the budget range of practically every home.
Artisans such as Louis Comfort Tiffany
and William Morris and their lyrical interpretations of nature,
hand-printed by the wood block method, came to symbolize Art
Nouveau.
Flocked walls even made it to Hampton
Court to bear witness to Queen Victoria and Albert's romance.
Modernism frowned on embellishments,
so wallpaper fell into disfavor during much of this century.
But as the 20th century ebbs and the bane of cookie-cutter
homes and sterile work environments is upon us, we've rediscovered
the romance and beauty of patterned walls.
Of course, we no longer talk about
wallpaper. Now it's wallcoverings,
for technology has stepped in and created products that incorporate
miracle compounds that make them washable, long-lasting, ready-pasted,
and yet so true to the best of history's worldly arts. So,
we can reproduce
any style of any period.
And unlike the costly fresco paintings,
tapestries and hand-painted papers
of the past, today's wallcoverings are very affordable. It
won't break the budget
to change the look of a room from, say, civilized to romantic,
casual to elegant,
or past to future.
