For those not following the BlocksPlatesStones discussion on color woodblock printed wallpaper, a video was mentioned that is worth 10 minutes of your time this week:

Originally posted in 2014 by the Zuber & Cie factory in Rixheim (Alsace), France, the video takes you into their chateau, production stations, and basement storage where 150,000 woodblocks are housed. https://www.zuber.fr/en/video.

The company has been printing wallpapers since 1797, making it the oldest surviving wallpaper manufacturer in the world. The website notes,

“Apart from the well-know scenic wallpapers, the factory created a large collection of wallpaper designs or patterns such as friezes, borders, ceiling roses and architectural trompe l’oeil. They necessitated the engraving of tens of thousands woodblocks. Today, 80 to 90% of the production is still printed using the traditional techniques an and original woodblocks.

The first scenic wallpapers appeared in France in 1804. More were printed during the French [Restoration] and production slowly declined after the Second Empire. …Between 1804 and 1860, Jean Zuber and his successors produced 25 scenes. The secret behind their success was the participation of great artists who were able to combine their talent and the technical requirements of production to produce a real mural.”

An interesting comparison to the Zuber operation is this 1963 video presenting a British wallpaper shop in Greenford, Middlesex.

Below is a wonderful example of 3D layering of color pigment to produce embossed patterns and textures on various papers. Only a brief section is posted here:

Our Graphic Arts Collection holds two sheets of woodblock printed wallpaper from the 19th century, both attributed to Zuber & Cie, the French manufacture de papier peints et tissus (Manufacturer of Painted Wallpaper and Fabrics). Zuber & Cie continues to design and print landscapes and genre views from locations around the world, so it is not surprising to see these American scenes produced in France.

We are fortunate to have an eight-foot section of French wallpaper from the panorama entitled Les vues de l’Amérique du nord. The scene required 1,690 different woodblocks and 223 colors when it was designed and first printed in 1834. One set of the complete print can be found in Washington D.C., where it “became one of the most publicized of wallpapers during the 1960s when Jacqueline Kennedy had a set, which had been taken form the Stoner house in Thurmont, Maryland, [and] put up in the White House.” (Wallpaper in America by Catherine Lynn, Graphic Arts Collection GA NK3412. L9 1980)

On the second, smaller sheet in the Graphic Arts Collection, we believe the Bunker Hill monument and the Boston State House are visible indicating the view is from Charlestown, Massachusetts, looking across the Boston harbor.

Zuber & Cie [attributed to], [One section from “Les vues de l’Amérique du nord”], no date [1834]. 97 inches long. Woodblock printed wallpaper. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2012.01732. Gift of Stuart Feld, Class of 1957.
Zuber & Cie [attributed to], View of Boston Harbor and the Bunker Hill Monument from Charlestown, Massachusetts, no date. Woodblock printed wallpaper. Graphic Arts Collection GC023. Gift of Leonard L. Milberg, Class of 1953.

In the spring of 1903, Harper and Brothers offered for sale a set of wood engravings that had been commissioned by the magazine, now repackaged in portfolios of limited edition art prints. First advertised in March as Famous Wood Engravings, it’s possible the stock of outdated prints was taking up too much space in the back rooms. Most portraits in the late-19th century were produced with a technique sometimes called “photoxylography,” which involved a photograph printed directly onto the woodblock and the carvers merely copying the print with a knife. While denounced by the fine art world, these life-like portraits caught the public’s attention until they, too, were replaced by actual photographs.

It’s unclear why the promotion stopped after the second month; whether the offer was so successful the sets were sold-out or so unsuccessful, the magazine gave up. The publisher announced:

“Interest in the portraits of the great men of America was never so acute as at present. No private library is complete without these inspiring faces, and to every public library, school, and college they are necessities. During the last fifty years the portraits of nearly all the men who impressed their personality upon their time and made the history of their generation and ours were engraved for Harper’s.

The art of engraving portraits on wood in this country was largely developed in the art department of Harper & Brothers. The quality of these large portraits has never been equalled. They are works of art by famous men like Staudenbar, Butler, Kruell, Goetze, Johnson, Baude, Wolf, etc.

Weeks and months were spent by the artist on one of these portraits; and in the direction and the quality of line for form, color, and modelling they may be said to fairly equal the best work ever done. The sympathetic quality of the medium used for the portraits lends itself to textures and delicate tones, and places them absolutely in the front rank of the art of engraving.

We have printed a very limited edition of eight of these portraits on the best heavy coated paper, with wide margins for framing or for a portfolio (size 12 x 17 inches). We have ready now for delivery the portraits of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Walt Whitman, William Dean Howells, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

These portraits are sold only in sets of four (any four) for $1.00 a set, or the entire eight portraits will be sent, postpaid, on receipt of $2.00. Address HARPER & BROTHERS, Franklin Square, New York City.

By the early 20th century, photographic illustrations replaced drawn or carved portraits at Harper‘s and other magazines, such as this photograph of William Dean Howells.

The Print Council of America (PCA) has enlarged its website with additional scholarly resources you might find helpful in teaching and for personal use. The pages are freely accessible to everyone.

PCA is an incorporated non-profit organization with elected membership, officers and a board of directors. Membership in the Council is achieved through a process of nomination by existing Council members and review/approval by the board of directors at their semi-annual meetings. These pages were written by volunteers within the organization, with our thanks.

We are a professional organization of print specialists with a current membership of over 270 individuals most of whom represent collections of works of art on paper throughout the United States and Canada. While the organization is comprised primarily of museum curators, it also includes university professors, conservators of works on paper, and independent scholars with a strong commitment to the study of prints. Princeton currently has three members.

Founded in 1956 by a small group of museum curators, scholars, artists, collectors, and dealers, PCA’s mission is to “foster the creation, dissemination, and appreciation of fine prints, old and new.” Led by the legendary print collector Lessing J. Rosenwald, founders and early members of the group included individuals well-known for the roles they played in establishing public collections, mounting ground-breaking exhibitions of prints, and publishing critical studies of prints and printmakers.

In its initial years the Print Council was devoted to raising the visibility of printmaking as a fine art medium, and it played a strong advocacy role in providing educational information about prints, in supporting artists, and in promoting the creation and enactment of legislation relating to fraudulent practices in the print marketplace. More recently Print Council has served as a professional organization for print curators and has been especially active in the publication of books and research aids intended to encourage and professionalize the preservation, administration, and study of print collections in the United States and Canada. Equally important, the Print Council now provides a forum for print curators and other specialists to meet, share ideas, debate issues, update each other on work in progress, and discuss and implement Council projects. For more than sixty years, the Print Council of America has provided an environment for good will and cooperation among professionals dealing with works of art on paper.

https://printcouncil.org/

In 1784, Thomas Rowlandson exhibited two watercolors at the Royal Academy, contrasting an Italian family with a French family, each dancing and playing music together in in their homes. Although the Italian family is poorly dressed, living in a bleak home lit only by one open window, they sing an operatic tune with great power and enjoyment. The harpsichord player doesn’t even have a table and chair but plays sitting on the floor. A mother sings while caring for the baby.

In an equally tattered room, the French family has pushed a bed against the wall to make room for dancing. Various pieces of elegant dress are worn over bare legs and torn sleeves. Even the dogs have been dressed up, while the hungry cat climbs into the cupboard looking for food,

Samuel Alken printed and hand colored reproductions of the two scenes, which were sold at his Soho shop as well as William Hinton’s printshop at Sweeting Alley in Cornhill. They must have been popular because in 1792, Samuel Fores had a second edition of the French Family published and sold from his shop, this time printed without aquatint.

[above] Samuel Alken (1756-1815), after a design by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), An Italian family, 1785. Hand colored etching with aquatint. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2014.00798. Gift of Dickson Q. Brown, Class of 1895.
[below] Samuel Alken (1756-1815), after a design by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), A French family, 1786. Hand colored etching with aquatint. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2014.00793. Gift of Dickson Q. Brown, Class of 1895.

Samuel Alken (1756-1815), after a design by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), A French family, 1792. Hand colored etching. British Museum.