Humans, ever aware of and influenced by our surroundings, have a fundamental need to define and personalize our spaces. The physical environment in which our life unfolds, whether at home, school, work or places of recreation, is not merely a backdrop for our experiences. The quality of our space engages our deepest senses, emotions, and intuitions, helping shape how we feel and experience the world.
The four walls of our homes provide the greatest surface area to influence us. Wall material, color, texture and art present opportunities to influence how we react to and embrace a setting. The use of decorative arts, in the form of wallcoverings, fabrics applied to walls and murals has been used over time to create spaces that evoke our emotions, making us feel safe, energized, or calm. Since its early use of handmade paper from reeds, cloth, and wood chips, wallpaper has grown into an amazing technology with unlimited options.
In this first piece of a three-part series on wallpaper, I take you on a journey from the Ice Age to modern times — and across the globe.
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Wall Decor Began in the Ice Age
Adorning walls in residences with decorative paper has been a tradition for thousands of years. Wall decor featuring art can be traced back to cave drawings as early as the Ice Age (Upper Paleolithic), approximately 40,000 to 14,000 years ago, according to Britannica. Friezes in Egyptian pyramids, a horizontal band of colored squares and rectangles, topped by stylized representations of knotted fringes, date back to 2010 B.C.-2000 B.C. The availability of raw materials to produce paper, along with ink and printing techniques, was a prerequisite for the widespread production and distribution of wallpaper.
The Origins of Paper
Let’s start with the most basic component: paper. The earliest known paper has been traced to China, the country known as the “birthplace of paper,” around 200 B.C.
Paper is made from natural fibers, including wood chips, mulberry bark, hemp, and rags, which are macerated or chopped up and soaked in hot water. The mixture is then spread onto a flat screen, pressed and dried to form sheets. This technique was developed by Cai Lun, a Chinese court official, around 105 A.D. Not until the Arabs created a network of paper mills in the 8th to 11th centuries did the production and use of paper become commonplace. One of the first paper mills was built in Spain, later spreading across Europe.
Wallpaper: From China to Europe
The development and use of paper can be traced as it traveled up the Silk Road, a network of trade routes that connected East and West. Wallpaper moved from China to Europe, where Asian floral designs and chinoiserie were valued. Some of these designs were hand-painted on silk and paper, making them vastly expensive in mid-17th-century Europe. Tracing the birth of decorative coverings to China accounts for the popularity of Asian art, in particular floral motifs, such as the lotus and peony, appearing in the gilded cornices of Versailles to the silk merchants of Venice. European nobility were the first to adopt these styles, as they aspired to the simplicity and purity of Oriental art, gradually filtering down to the merchant classes.
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Oriental Art in Great Britain
Great Britain first embraced Asian art in wallcoverings with a room using these motifs, The Chinese Room, at Temple Newsam House in West Yorkshire. Asian-inspired wallpaper from the 1700s was hung in the room, and many pieces are preserved to this day. Lady Hertford received the wallpaper from the Prince Regent, who was later to become King George IV, and whom she visited at the Brighton Pavilion. Lady Hertford was an innovator, cutting pictures of her favorite birds from Audubon’s “The Birds of America” and pasting them on the original wallpaper. One could say that Lady Hertford gave birth to custom wallpaper design. To this day, Asian motifs found in wallcovering fall into three categories: figure paintings, including portraits, both urban and village; landscapes, with mountains, lakes, trees, village buildings, boats and bridges; and flowers and birds, chrysanthemums, cranes, ducks, butterflies, eagles and grasshoppers.
Wallpaper in America: Colonial Williamsburg
But how did wallpaper come to America? Through a combination of European imports, local craftsmen and artists, and domestic manufacturing processes, American paper stainers, as American wallpaper producers were called, copied imported patterns as well as producing their own designs. Early wallpaper in America was likely imported from Europe, probably England and France, based on motifs found in tapestries and fabrics. Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, the seat of government in the New World, has evidence of wallpaper dating to around 1755. Sheets of paper made from linen rags were glued together and then painted with a ground color. Hand-carved wooden blocks were used to create patterns, with one color for each block. Wallpaper was an obvious form of wealth and, therefore, displayed in the most public rooms, such as sitting and dining rooms, as well as entry receiving rooms.
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Wallpaper in the 20th Century
Fast-forward to 1941, and modern collections of traditional wallpaper, with its roots in Colonial Williamsburg, were made available to the public. Many of these patterns are still in production today, updated with modern production techniques and fresh colorations. Despite America’s fascination with and devotion to traditional design, wallpaper design evolved with the times, influenced by culture and modern advancements. An example of wallpaper adapting to pop culture, at the height of Beatlemania in 1964, Beatles wallpaper, manufactured in the UK, depicting the Fab Four,” became popular.
Victorian England influenced wallpaper with ornate florals, heavy bird and branch designs, which evolved into the modern, crisp designs in subdued palettes. Art deco wallpaper in the 1930s — more affordable due to mass production and distribution — layered floral motifs over abstract patterns. The austerity of wartime in the 1940s evolved into simple, muted, subdued floral patterns and stripes. Post-war optimism was accompanied by futurism, characterized by bold, abstract patterns and a return to clear, bright pastels. Op art and the Mod style of the 1960s influenced wallpaper with black and white patterns combined with shiny silver and gold foil backgrounds. Earth tones and natural motifs, including graphics and photo murals of nature, animals, and landscapes, came into vogue in the 1970s. Florals and chintz patterns in bold colors and geometric patterns were in high demand in the 1980s. The turn of the century saw shabby chic and cottagecore spirit driving wallpaper design. Advances in production since 2010 have given way to an “anything goes” approach to wallpaper design, driven by the availability of “peel ‘n stick” wallpaper, seen as revolutionary.
Wallpaper’s Transformative Character
Adding character, drama and life to residences, retail environments, health care facilities, hospitality and restaurant spaces, enhanced by a limitless selection of wallcoverings, wallpaper has evolved from the first paper sourced in China generations ago. The techniques, designs and colors readily available, supplemented by custom design and color options, transform environments, adding drama or subtle enhancements.
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The History of Wallpaper: From Cave Walls to Intricate Wall Coverings originally appeared on usnews.com
