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Panoramic wallpaper Native Peoples of the Pacific Ocean . 1804
Manufacturer Joseph Dufour
965,00 €
This panoramic wallpaper was published in 1804 by Manufacturer Dufour. It is believed to be one of the first panoramic wallpapers ever created (after the "English garden"), sparking a fashion for this large-scale form of luxury decoration. It required 2 to 3 years of work, and was a true technical feat. Designed by Jean-Gabriel Charvet, it was directly inspired by British naval Captain Cook's voyages in the Pacific (1773-1779) but also by those of Bougainville. It represents Vancouver Island, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Hawaii, New Zealand, Alaska Bay, New Caledonia, the Marquesas Islands, Easter Island, the Admiralty Islands, the Palau Islands... as well as their inhabitants. Its subject appealed to the growing European taste for the perceived idyllic way of life in the South Pacific.
The panoramic wallpaper is garnered from collections in Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris. There are other copies available, notably at Le Musée des Ursulines in Mâcon (France), the National Gallery of Australia and the Fine Arts Museums De Young in San Francisco.
Collection of Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris
Photographic credit : Les Arts Décoratifs/ Jean Tholance
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Created by Joseph Dufour, the so-named worshop is, along with Zuber and Cie, one of the most exceptional of the 19th century regarding the creation of wallpapers, especially panoramic murals. Ambitious, talented, humanist, and heavily influenced by the French Revolution ideals, Joseph Dufour set up first in Mâcon, then in Paris. At his beginnings, he kept in tune with the style and taste of the time, reproducing drapery patterns on paper. Then, he progressively turned towards literary and exotic themes with the creation of mural panoramics.
Exhibited in Paris in 1806, his first panoramic wallpaper, “Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique”, enjoyed great success, and Joseph Dufour was then considered the most revolutionary creator of the time in the art of decoration. From thereon, associated to his name, his patterns became famous all over the world, especially in Europe and in The United States.
1804
This scene takes place in New Caledonia and shows a woman picking bananas and placing them on a tray on her back. The drawer thought he was doing the right thing by putting the fruits back in that direction but they are represented upside down in relation to reality! Apart from this amusing detail, Jean-Gabriel Charvet, found some help in the make the initial drawing, from illustrated stories that circulated in France around 1785, as well as the work of botanist Julien de La Billardière, published in 1799. The importance given to plants was dictated by real public taste for botany.
1200 engraved wooden boards were necessary to print the 20 polychrome panels of the original design because each engraved wooden-board prints only one shade of the same color. For example, 7 wooden-boards are necessary to reproduce the different shades of green of a banana leaf. It takes up to 30 wooden boards to represent a character in costume!
Our wallpapers are hung in 3 stages: the preparation of the wall, its pasting, and the hanging. The strips are hung edge to edge and from left to right in the order indicated on the assembly plan supplied with the rolls. To find out more, consult our Hanging instructions page.
Non-woven wallpaper 147g/ square meter
Matching edge to edge
Manufacturing time: 20 business days
Free shipping from €300
Made in France
Owing to the manufacturing process, there could be small variations in colors from one production batch to the next. If possible, avoid buying different parts of the same design several weeks apart.
