DOI article:
Warner, Horace: Wallpaper designers and their work
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41879#0180
WALLPAPER DESIGNERS AND THEIR WORK
considerable popularity ; but they are the product of the manufacturer
and have little artistic interest for the genuine designer. After all they
are not designs but rather “ sensations ” of coloured textures.
One of the reasons why British wallpapers display such a wide range of
style, and bear usually a stamp of individuality, is that the designs are
executed by the artists in their own studios and are not produced in some
large studio employing a number of people who are engaged solely in
turning out patterns for purely commercial purposes. Besides the regular
designers we find well-known painters, architects and decorators devoting
their attention to wallpapers.
Amongst the leading designers of wallpapers in Great Britain the late
Mr. Walter Crane holds an honoured place, and his activities in almost
every branch of applied art gained for him a world-wide reputation. His
“ Macaw,” reproduced on page 172, is one of the most successful wall-
paper designs he produced in later years, and shows that full vigour and
fine expression of drawing, rendered by a simple method well-suited to
the production of a wallpaper. These valuable qualities have been faith-
fully preserved by Messrs. Thomas Ellingham and Son in the cutting
of the blocks, an art which does not receive the recognition it deserves,
and which is a most important factor in preserving the mannerisms and
touch of the designer, without the employment of any photographic or
mechanical process.
Apart from his stained glass and sgraffitto decoration, Mr. Hey wood
Sumner has achieved notable success as a designer of wallpapers, and is
particularly clever in adapting plant form to the simple treatment of
mural decoration, without violating the characteristics of such plants ;
while his manner of dealing with them reveals his love of flowers and
plants. His paper here reproduced (p. 172) is one of his latest designs,
based upon the “ Rosa Rugusa,” and is rendered to give the effect of two
flat colours bound by an outline. Another of his designs, the “Apple
Tree” (Studio Year Book, 1906) has a greater number of colours and
shows admirably the decorative treatment of nature without the loss of
its charm.
Mr. C. F. A. Voysey’s “Fairyland” (p. 174) represents a style of design
which he has made peculiarly his own, though it has been much imitated.
It is characterised by broad masses of colour and simple outline. He, too,
has diligently studied nature before attempting to adapt it to decoration,
however formal the ultimate treatment may be.
The designs of Mr. Allan F. Vigers are well-known and distinctive.
Four of his most interesting wallpapers were in the Studio Year Book
for 1906. His work is always based upon floral motifs, reminiscent of
the English flower-garden, and treated in a manner that suggests the old
herbalswith the addition of colour. The “Delphinium and Columbine”
(p. 172) was his earliest wallpaper design and still holds its own with his
168
considerable popularity ; but they are the product of the manufacturer
and have little artistic interest for the genuine designer. After all they
are not designs but rather “ sensations ” of coloured textures.
One of the reasons why British wallpapers display such a wide range of
style, and bear usually a stamp of individuality, is that the designs are
executed by the artists in their own studios and are not produced in some
large studio employing a number of people who are engaged solely in
turning out patterns for purely commercial purposes. Besides the regular
designers we find well-known painters, architects and decorators devoting
their attention to wallpapers.
Amongst the leading designers of wallpapers in Great Britain the late
Mr. Walter Crane holds an honoured place, and his activities in almost
every branch of applied art gained for him a world-wide reputation. His
“ Macaw,” reproduced on page 172, is one of the most successful wall-
paper designs he produced in later years, and shows that full vigour and
fine expression of drawing, rendered by a simple method well-suited to
the production of a wallpaper. These valuable qualities have been faith-
fully preserved by Messrs. Thomas Ellingham and Son in the cutting
of the blocks, an art which does not receive the recognition it deserves,
and which is a most important factor in preserving the mannerisms and
touch of the designer, without the employment of any photographic or
mechanical process.
Apart from his stained glass and sgraffitto decoration, Mr. Hey wood
Sumner has achieved notable success as a designer of wallpapers, and is
particularly clever in adapting plant form to the simple treatment of
mural decoration, without violating the characteristics of such plants ;
while his manner of dealing with them reveals his love of flowers and
plants. His paper here reproduced (p. 172) is one of his latest designs,
based upon the “ Rosa Rugusa,” and is rendered to give the effect of two
flat colours bound by an outline. Another of his designs, the “Apple
Tree” (Studio Year Book, 1906) has a greater number of colours and
shows admirably the decorative treatment of nature without the loss of
its charm.
Mr. C. F. A. Voysey’s “Fairyland” (p. 174) represents a style of design
which he has made peculiarly his own, though it has been much imitated.
It is characterised by broad masses of colour and simple outline. He, too,
has diligently studied nature before attempting to adapt it to decoration,
however formal the ultimate treatment may be.
The designs of Mr. Allan F. Vigers are well-known and distinctive.
Four of his most interesting wallpapers were in the Studio Year Book
for 1906. His work is always based upon floral motifs, reminiscent of
the English flower-garden, and treated in a manner that suggests the old
herbalswith the addition of colour. The “Delphinium and Columbine”
(p. 172) was his earliest wallpaper design and still holds its own with his
168