Flights of Fancy: select decorative schemes of the 1920s and 30s
27 October 2007 to 12 October 2008
scheme showing The Delphinium Decoration, manufactured by John Line & Sons, 1920s
Flights of Fancy: exhibition summary
In the early 20th century the influence of Modernism encouraged a move away from highly patterned walls. This change in fashion affected wallpaper production as a whole and manufacturers, keen to retain their customers, produced numerous fancy paper decorations to add visual interest to plain or textured backgrounds.
By the 1920s and 30s an enormous variety was available. They ranged widely in price but it was the expensive hand-printed products that gave designers most opportunity to produce really extraordinary flights of fancy.
This exhibition features some of the most colourful and elaborate decorations in the Whitworth's collection, together with many artists' impressions of their effects in decorative schemes.
View items appearing in this exhibition
