“Jasmine”
This block-printed wallpaper design, called “Jasmine”, was created by the English artist, William Morris in 1872. It was block-printed in distemper colors on paper. Distemper paint is made of watercolor paint, a whiting element, and glue.
Morris was a man of many talents. He pursued a variety of artistic endeavors including writing, painting, and textile design. His passion for medieval culture influenced his work. He employed the more archaic techniques when producing his art whenever possible. This included printing his books in the fifteenth century fashion, hand weaving tapestries, and using traditional hand woodblock printing for his repeating wallpaper designs, such as this piece here.
In “Jasmine”, Morris overlays two plant designs on top of one another. The bottom design is a pattern of hawthorn leaves, flowers, and branches. On top of that is a design of jasmine leaves and flowers, lending its name to the piece.
Using plants as his guide, Morris was able to incorporate more naturalistic designs into wallpaper, which traditionally had more mechanical forms. His aim was to give such a natural look to his wallpaper, that it would be difficult to tell where the repeating designs were located. Thanks to his 1881 lecture that was converted into a book, Some Hints on Pattern Designing, we know about his philosophies on design.
He said, “What we have to do… is to create due paper-stainers’ flowers and leaves, forms that are obviously fit for printing with a block; to mask the construction of our pattern enough to prevent people from counting the repeats of our pattern, while we manage to lull their curiosity to trace it out; to be careful to cover our ground equably. If we are successful in these two last things, we shall attain a look of satisfying mystery, which is an essential in all patterned goods, and which in paperhangings must be done by the designer, since, as aforesaid, they fall into no folds, and have no special beauty of material to attract the eye.” His lecture can be read in its entirety online here.
William Morris had his own company produce most of his products, such as stained glass and textile art. However, for his wallpaper, he had it produced by Jeffrey & Co., with whom he had an established relationship. They specialized in hand printing wallpaper with wooden blocks. Each color had its own block to prevent color which yielded a cleaner wallpaper product. Jeffrey & Co. printed several versions of this wallpaper with varying colors.
There are several preserved sections of an original 1872 printing of the “Jasmine” wallpaper in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in the United States, and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. You can also buy a modern version of this wallpaper print, sporting different colors, from Morris & Co. online.
For more on William Morris, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
