Wallpaper and the Artist: from Durer to Warhol

This volume intends to reveal how major artists over the las five centuries have approached wallpaper design. From Durer, who conceived of his designs as seriously as he did a fine woodcut, to William Morris, who believed that wallpaper, like all good design, should transform our lives, to Andy Warhol, whose fascination with multiple images inspired brilliant parodies of the wallpaper tradition, the artists represented here reveal the rich complexity inherent in the art of pattern and form that constitutes wallpaper design. Despite its extraordinary character, however, the design of wallpaper has not always been accorded great respect either by fine or decorative artists. Yet when a great artist or a designer of genius turns his of her attention to the aesthetic issues involved, elegant, ingenious, and brilliant designs have resulted that successfully challenge the very idea that this might be one of the lesser arts.