Introduction To: 'Toward A Material History of Wallpaper'...
Introduction To: 'Toward A Material History of Wallpaper'
In 2003 Dr. Bernard Jacqué wrote a thesis about wallpaper: ‘De La Manufacture Au Mur: Pour une histoire matérielle du papier peint, 1770-1914’.
The French original can be accessed at:
http://theses.univ-lyon2.fr/documents/lyon2/2003/jacque_b
This thesis, the title of which I have translated "From the Workshop to the Wall - Toward a Material History of Wallpaper" is large (600 pages, 2,300 footnotes) and important. Trust me.
Jacqué was curator at the Museé du Papier Peint from its inception in 1981 until his retirement in 2009. He is the most prolific writer about historical wallpaper of our age. Indeed, of any age, to the best of my knowledge.
His legacy also consists in a variety of exhibitions, conferences, and catalogues which he conceived, led, or contributed to. Fortuitously, Jacqué wound up directing a museum which was practically married to the Zuber wallpaper company. Museum and factory inhabit the same piece of property, a quasi-feudal estate in Rixheim now owned by the local government.
This gave Jacqué everyday access to the wallpaper samples, inventories, marketing materials, and production records of the Zuber company, making up, in its entirety, the most complete record of wallpaper in existence. It is fitting that the aims of the thesis capping his curatorial career are ambitious and comprehensive:
ABSTRACT
In the period 1770-1914 wallpaper became the premier decoration in Western interiors. Until recently, it has been studied in terms of style. Yet we continue to know little about wallpaper as a material object. Here, the full context surrounding wallpaper is under consideration: the manufacturer, the design studio, the workshop, how and to whom it was sold, and how it was hung. Beneath the style of wallpaper are the cultural foundations which give it meaning. During the eighteenth century, wallpaper was a relatively well-documented, elite product. Some questions about its context are answered by the royal archives and the extensive record-keeping of N. Dollfus & Company in Mulhouse. During the nineteenth century the consumption of wallpaper of all types increased with mechanization. This study concentrates on the better-documented products of the Zuber company in Rixheim such as panoramics and décors which were intended for elite markets. Wallpaper, often misinterpreted, is established here as a fundamental element of the culture of the interior at every level of society.
_____________________
Three selections are presented in English-language versions (the links lead to a PDF):
1: A Historiography of Wallpaper, http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/rzsz-6286
2: Zuber’s ‘Indépendance’ (1853) a hand-painted restatement of ‘Scenic America’ (1835),
http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/jnr1-zv39
3: The Scenic Revival of the 20th Century, http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/e87a-2350
A fourth PDF based closely on the thesis will examine the roles of "tableaux" and so-called tapestry papers. These high-style French genres from the last half of the 19th century prolonged the scenic era. Like the scenics, they were pictorial and often referenced art history in some way.
In 2003 Dr. Bernard Jacqué wrote a thesis about wallpaper: ‘De La Manufacture Au Mur: Pour une histoire matérielle du papier peint, 1770-1914’.
The French original can be accessed at:
http://theses.univ-lyon2.fr/documents/lyon2/2003/jacque_b
This thesis, the title of which I have translated "From the Workshop to the Wall - Toward a Material History of Wallpaper" is large (600 pages, 2,300 footnotes) and important. Trust me.
Jacqué was curator at the Museé du Papier Peint from its inception in 1981 until his retirement in 2009. He is the most prolific writer about historical wallpaper of our age. Indeed, of any age, to the best of my knowledge.
His legacy also consists in a variety of exhibitions, conferences, and catalogues which he conceived, led, or contributed to. Fortuitously, Jacqué wound up directing a museum which was practically married to the Zuber wallpaper company. Museum and factory inhabit the same piece of property, a quasi-feudal estate in Rixheim now owned by the local government.
This gave Jacqué everyday access to the wallpaper samples, inventories, marketing materials, and production records of the Zuber company, making up, in its entirety, the most complete record of wallpaper in existence. It is fitting that the aims of the thesis capping his curatorial career are ambitious and comprehensive:
ABSTRACT
In the period 1770-1914 wallpaper became the premier decoration in Western interiors. Until recently, it has been studied in terms of style. Yet we continue to know little about wallpaper as a material object. Here, the full context surrounding wallpaper is under consideration: the manufacturer, the design studio, the workshop, how and to whom it was sold, and how it was hung. Beneath the style of wallpaper are the cultural foundations which give it meaning. During the eighteenth century, wallpaper was a relatively well-documented, elite product. Some questions about its context are answered by the royal archives and the extensive record-keeping of N. Dollfus & Company in Mulhouse. During the nineteenth century the consumption of wallpaper of all types increased with mechanization. This study concentrates on the better-documented products of the Zuber company in Rixheim such as panoramics and décors which were intended for elite markets. Wallpaper, often misinterpreted, is established here as a fundamental element of the culture of the interior at every level of society.
_____________________
Three selections are presented in English-language versions (the links lead to a PDF):
1: A Historiography of Wallpaper, http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/rzsz-6286
2: Zuber’s ‘Indépendance’ (1853) a hand-painted restatement of ‘Scenic America’ (1835),
http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/jnr1-zv39
3: The Scenic Revival of the 20th Century, http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/e87a-2350
A fourth PDF based closely on the thesis will examine the roles of "tableaux" and so-called tapestry papers. These high-style French genres from the last half of the 19th century prolonged the scenic era. Like the scenics, they were pictorial and often referenced art history in some way.
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