Woodblock Printing - France

France

Woodblock printing on wallpaper became famous in France at the end of the 18th century. Manufactures like Joseph Dufour et Cie (1797 - c. 1830) or Zuber et Cie (founded 1797) used the woodblock printing for wall paper production. In 1806, in collaboration with the artist Jean-Gabriel Charvet, Dufour et Cie produced a twenty-panel set of scenic wallpaper entitled Sauvages de la Mer du Pacifique (Savages of the Pacific), which became very famous. It was the largest panoramic wallpaper of its time, and marked the burgeoning of a French industry in panoramic wallpapers. Dufour realized almost immediate success from the sale of these papers and enjoyed a lively trade with America. The Neoclassic spirit currently in favor was accented handsomely in houses of the Federal period by the exaggerated elegance of Charvet's scenes. Like most of 18th century wallpapers, the panorama was designed to be hung above a dado.

While Joseph Dufour et Cie was shut down in the 1830s, Zuber et Cie still exists and claims to be the last factory in the world producing woodblock printed wallpapers and furnishing fabrics.

For its production Zuber uses woodblocks out of an archive of more than 100,000 engraved from the 17th and 19th century which are classified as a "Historical Monument". It offers panoramic sceneries such as "Vue de l'Amérique Nord", "Eldorado Hindoustan" or "Isola Bella" and also wallpapers, friezes and ceilings as well as hand-printed furnishing fabrics.