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All The News That's Fit To Blockprint! Issue # 4 May 2014

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Please share this newsletter with your friend who's crazy about wallpaper. Yes, that one!

The dynamic duo of Judy Anderson and Robert Kelly lectured about 18th century wallpaper at the season's opening of Herkimer Home, the c. 1764 dwelling of General Nicholas Herkimer in the Mohawk Valley of upstate New York. The "West St. Mary's" pattern was hung in a parlor.

http://www.herkimertelegram.com/article/20140427/NEWS/140429350

Anderson is the author of Glorious Splendor, the prize-winning book about wallpaper in the Jeremiah Lee Mansion in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Kelly wrote the The Backstory of Wallpaper: Paper-Hangings 1650-1750. More about their books below.

"West St. Mary's," c. 1765, from Adelphi Paperhanging

Looking Forward: A major exhibition about the work of the Parisian wallpaper manufacturer Paul Balin (fl. 1863-1898) is planned for the fall 2016 re-opening of the Deutsches Tapetenmuseum in Kassel. Dr. Astrid Arnold reports that the catalog will feature wide-ranging essays by wallpaper historians.

Christine Woods has retired from her curatorial perch at the Whitworth Art Gallery, where she had researched, enhanced, and promoted the wallpaper collection for 25 years. The Whitworth is said to be the UK's second largest, after the Victoria and Albert museum. Her swan song appears to be the

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article "The Challenge of Cheap Paper", in the proceedings of the 31st International Congress of Paper Historians (Vol. 19, 2012, ISSN 1815-669X).

The 2014 Spring Newsletter of the Wallpaper History Society has been published. This member benefit is chock full of wallpaper news. The Society welcomes new members; contact Farrell Tumelty for information: <ftumelty@gmail.com> or join the Society via Paypal:http://wallpaperhistorysociety.org.uk/membership/

The National Trust (UK) has published the first-ever catalog of the Chinese wallpaper in their care: "Chinese Wallpaper in National Trust Houses" is available from the Trust's website at an introductory price of £9.99 ($16.85). The 48-page volume was written by Emile de Bruijn, Andrew Bush and Dr. Helen Clifford. There are 45 entries, most illustrated in color: http://shop.nationaltrust.org.uk/chinese-wallpaper-in-national-trust-houses/p5123

The Wallpaper History Discussion Group on LinkedIn continues to grow and now stands at over 550 members: join! It's free and easy: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Wallpaper-History-Group-4248838/about

Art Nouveau at Musee du Papier Peint: The exhibition "Wallpaper and Art Nouveau: Creation, Production, Dissemination" opened on April 26th at the Wallpaper Museum in Rixheim, Alsace, France. The show is based on the recent book by Jérémie Cerman and includes fine examples from the

museum's collections. Not in France on April 26th?

No problem. The exhibition runs until May 15, 2015. The Musee du Papier Peint is led by Philippe de Fabry, director, and Isabelle Dubois-Brinkmann, curator.

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<http://www.bradbury.com>

Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers will shortly announce several new roomsets based on stenciling at the Williamsburgh Savings Bank in Brooklyn, build 1870-75 by George Post and decorated by P. B. Wight. This dome-like structure of a few floors is not to be confused with the WSB Tower, one of the largest buildings in Brooklyn. Wight was a gifted architect with a peculiar sympathy for Venetian Gothic, tracery, and architectural ornament. Stephen

Bauer, principle at B & B, stumbled on a book by historian and designer J.K. Colling. Bauer was surprised to see the inspiration for much of Wight's wall and ceiling ornamentation. Colling published Details of Gothic Architecture from Existing Examples around mid-century. A monograph on Wight was published by Sarah Landau around 1981 and seems to be the sole source for understanding his unique style of decoration:

http://www.amazon.com/P-B-Wight-architect-contractor-critic-1838-1925/dp/B0006E218E

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A dissertation by Kadri Kallaste, an Estonian paper conservator, has been published online: "Preservation of Wallpapers As Parts Of Interiors": http://www.artun.ee/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Kadri-Kallaste16.10.13.pdf

Did you know that Richard M. Nixon was no slouch when it came to early American furniture? A new blog post: "What I Learned At The White House: Chapter Three," a memoir, has been posted: http://wallpaperscholarblog.blogspot.com

Belfry Historic Consultants, LLC, Adelphi Paperhangings, and Hamilton Weston Ltd. are all working on new reproductions of historic wallpapers. The No. 1 Royal Crescent Museum in Bath was papered last year with two of Hamilton Weston's creations. The Davenport Museum in Savannah is said to be interested in a hall paper found nearby.

http://www.belfryhistoric.com

http://hamiltonweston.com

http://www.adelphipaperhangings.com

Judy Anderson's lecture at Herkimer Home centered on the hierarchy of space within early American homes and explained why the walls of certain rooms were graced by hand-painted murals (such as those at the Jeremiah Lee Mansion) and how block-printed and stenciled patterns were distributed throughout the house. According to the 2013 Award of Merit citation of the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), Anderson's book "serves the field of state and local history by setting these monumental interior artworks in their historical and socio-cultural context within an important American house..."

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<http://awards.aaslh.org/award/glorious-splendor-the-18th-century-wallpapers-in-the-jeremiah-lee-mansion/>

How to buy Glorious Splendor:

<http://www.marbleheadarchitecture.com>

Robert M. Kelly's book has been nominated for the annual book prize of Historic New England and recommended by CHOICE, the magazine of the Association of College and Research Libraries. It has been featured on the websites of Enfilade, the newsletter of HECAA (Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art & Architecture) and ARLIS (Art Libraries Society of North America).

<http://www.historicnewengland.org/about-us/awards-programs/historic-new-england-book-prize>

<http://enfilade18thc.com>

<http://arlisna.org/publications/reviews>

How to buy The Backstory of Wallpaper:

<http://backstoryofwallpaper.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-to-buy-backstory.html>