Artist's Designed Wallpapers
This exhibition was on display from August 13, 2004 to December 12, 2004.
See all the exhibitions.
View and print exhibition labels.
All of the papers shown here are in the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. They are all designs by artists active during the twentieth century. The earliest paper is designed by Charles Dana Gibson in 1902 and the most recent is by Trenton Doyle Hancock in 2003. While several of these artist's have designed mulitple wallpapers, designs were chosen to reflect the artist's signature work, or the style the artist was working on at that point in their careeer. The dates of the wallpapers range over the course of the century to show the style changes over time. Most of the designs are bold and not in the traditional vein of wallpapers. It is interesting to note how each of the artist's has chosen to deal with pattern repeats, something not usually dealt with as a fine artist. Some artists have chosen to treat the repeat like a single image on a canvas with no continuity between repeats, while others are more fluid, making it difficult to distinguish where the next repeat begins.
- Sidewall, Trains
- screen printed on paper.
- Gift of Harvey Smith.
- 1950-126-3-a/c
- This object was made by Piazza Prints Inc..
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 4 images of this object.
- Sample Book Page, Mural Scrolls
- screen printed on canvas.
- Gift of Katzenbach and Warren, Inc..
- 1953-61-1-1
- This object was made by Katzenbach and Warren, Inc..
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 11 images of this object.
- Sidewall, Bachelor's Wall Paper
- machine-printed paper.
- Gift of Philadelphia Museum of Art.
- 1971-58-3-a,b
- This object was made by M.H. Birge & Sons Co..
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 5 images of this object.
- Sidewall, Cow
- screen printed on paper.
- Gift of Andy Warhol.
- 1980-69-1
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 6 images of this object.
- Sidewall, The Birches
- machine-printed paper, embossed.
- Gift of Edna Lindemann.
- 1992-109-1
- This object was made by M.H. Birge & Sons Co..
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 4 images of this object.
- Sidewall, Right Hand Lady
- screen-printed mylar foil, paper backed.
- Museum purchase from Sarah Cooper-Hewitt Fund.
- 1992-110-2
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 3 images of this object.
- Sidewall, Lagoon
- lithograph from linocut.
- Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program....
- 1996-32-8
- This object was made by The Curwen Press.
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 4 images of this object.
- Border, Alphabet
- screen printed on paper.
- Gift of A/D Gallery.
- 1997-108-1
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 5 images of this object.
- Sidewall, Flower Bed
- screen printed on paper.
- Museum purchase through Estate of Vena Tomkins Carroll and gift of Ely....
- 2003-2-1
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 4 images of this object.