Zuber, “Brazil views”, framed wallpaper panel, circa 1970

Zuber Manufacture, author.

Zuber Manufacture wallpaper, three strips of the panoramic « Brazil views » depicting a coffee plantation in Brazil, on a framed panel. At the forefront, we perceive indigenous working whereas foremen rest under a sort of canopy made with large palm leaves. At the second plan, we can see vessels and frigates sailing. The background is a blue sky leaning to beige, which give depth to the scene.

Wallpaper strips have been shorten and framed by gilt bamboo style wood sticks.

The three framed strips n° 27, 28 and 29 come from the sixth panel of the panoramic set « The Brazil views » composed of 30 strips.

This wallpaper has been realized thanks to Jean-Julien Deltil drawings, inspired by lithographs by Johann Moritz Rugendas. The wallpaper was printed for the first time in 1830 thanks to 1693 carved wood planks for a total of 247 colours.

Jean-Julien Deltil (1791-1863) was a French painter who entered the Beaux-Arts of Paris in 1813 and was Debret’s student. He did Salons in 1814 and in 1824 as a portraitist. From 1818, he began to work for wallpaper manufactures such as the Velay Manufacture (Heliopolis Battle (1818)). From 1835, he only worked for Zuber Manufacture where he specialized in exotic landscapes.

Johann Moritz Rugendas (1802-1858) was a German painter, famous for his lithographic prints album Picturesque travel in Brazil published by Engelmann in 1835. These views are the story of his Brazil travel done between 1822 and 1825 and inspired Deltil for his Brazil views. He drew very realistic landscapes, taking care of representing fauna and flora or country peoples. He searched to be as close as possible to the Brazilian people reality and was also interested by indigenous people.

The Zuber Manufacture was created from a wallpaper printed workshop created in 1790, next to the Chintz Manufacture of Mulhouse. The small factory moved in 1797 in Rixheim and increased. Jean Zuber entered the company as a traveller and became the only owner in 1802. The manufacture knew a wide success all along the 19th century thanks to its new print process and a great artistic quality in its production.
Its large panoramic decors collection appeared from 1804 and made its international reputation. For this production, Zuber Manufacture made partnerships with great artists who put they art to serve wallpaper technique, such as Pierre Mongin or Jean-Julien Deltil.
The Zuber Manufacture today continues to provide wallpaper by working with same manual techniques inherited from the 19th century.

The large panoramas, realized between 1800 and 1960 were a way used to change of scenery and exoticism thanks to a direct confrontation between the spectator and the landscape or people represented. The panorama was frequently divided in scenes and allowed the buyer to set the different scenes according to his will.
A difficulty appeared when moving from flowers and arabesques decors to panoramic views: it’s necessary to stop standardize backgrounds and create relief in skies. For that Zuber creates, in 1819, a print technique name “irisation” in order to print colour gradients thanks to a simultaneous application of colours. Moreover, Manufacture began to create views from travellers’ drawings and lithographs from 1810’s.
Public tastes evolved trough the 19th century and panoramas turned to different styles: reference to classical Antiquity, to actual archaeological discoveries, to gardens and to travels. No matter the subject, they are all used to serve the main goal of wallpaper : showing dynamic scenes representing moving people and objects, far from the fixity of flowers and arabesques scenes.

Sources :

Claval Paul. « Le papier peint panoramique français, ou l’exotisme à domicile ». In: Le Globe. Revue genevoise de géographie, tome 148, 2008. L’exotisme. pp. 65-87.

Stéphanie Perris-Delmas, « Gros plan sur les panoramiques », Gazette Drouot, °33, 29/09/2006

Website of Zuber Manufacture