PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Historic types of wallpaper and decorative schemes of interiors
and ceiling. In England, walls started to be divided into three
horizontally separated sections: a dado below the chair rail, filling
above it and a frieze at the top. (Fig. 30) By the end of the
19th century, the friezes became gradually broader and started
to dominate the whole wallpaper scheme. Wide borders were
used up to the beginning of the 20th century, when they were
called “Crown Hangings”, in which vertically oriented designs,
usually flowers, rose in widely spaced stripes up the wall to
join a dominant design that ran horizontally across the top of
the wall. 116 In France, walls were divided into vertical panels,
which were framed by borders or by wallpaper “pilasters”. In
Germany, large fields between the dado and frieze were used
for elaborate decorations and were framed on all four sides by
a border and a strip of plain paper. The corners formed by borders
were frequently covered by matching decorative cornerpieces.
Above a door, the field of supraporte was commonly
treated as an individual segment and framed by a border and
plain paper. (Fig. 31) This kind of division became especially
popular in the 1880s. It was believed that a framing border
would help to separate the walls from the floor and ceiling, and
present the pattern of a wallpaper more clearly. 117 By the end of
the 19th century, the tripartite wall division was recommended
only for public or semi-public spaces, 118 such as halls, diningrooms
and parlours. 119
The materials at the end of the 19th century were generally
the same as at the beginning of the century. However, just using
a combination of border and wallpaper was no longer sufficient;
creating lush and complicated decoration schemes was in vogue.
Glowing colours, and balanced and rounded forms were prestigious
qualities, while harsh light, white surfaces, hard forms and
116
Frangiamore, Wallpapers in Historic Preservation, 36.
117
von Falke, Die Kunst im Hause, 230.
118
Christine Woods, Joanne Kosuda Warner and Bernard Jacqué, “Proliferation: Late
19th Century Papers, Markets and Manufacturers” in The Papered Wall. The History,
Patterns and Techniques of Wallpaper, ed. Lesley Hoskins (London: Thames and
Hudson Ltd., 2005), 152.
119
Brigitte von Savigny, “Tapeten und Dekorationsstoffe” in Jugendstil in Freiburg.
Begleitbuch zur Ausstellung “Jugendstil in Freiburg” 2. März – 13. Mai 2001 im
Augustiner-museum Freiburg, ed. Saskia Durian-Ress (Freiburg: Rombach Verlag, 2001),
CXCIX. Exhibition catalog.
70