Views of Zuber

While flipping through the March '05 issue of House & Garden tonight, I came across this image of a guest bedroom designed by Timothy Haynes and Kevin Roberts. The room features a scenic wallpaper by Zuber et Cie, called "Les Courses des Chevaux."Jackie Kennedy was also a fan of Zuber wallpapers. When John and Jackie moved into the White House in 1961, they found that much of the Truman-era decor included modern fabrics and reproduction period pieces. So as part of her restoration and redecoration, Jackie papered the Diplomatic Room with antique panels of Zuber's "Views of North America", which were printed in 1834 by Jean Zuber et Cie. The paper shows 32 scenes of the American landscape, including Niagara Falls and Boston Harbor.The printing process for Zuber wallpapers is actually pretty incredible. The company was founded in 1797 and created over 100,000 woodblocks with which to print their elaborate murals and papers. Today, they are still using these SAME woodblocks that they engraved and printed with in the seventeenth century! Imagine how long it would take an artist to hand block-print all the colors in "Views of North America!" Check out some of the woodblocks below. Another stunning example of "Views of North America" is found in the insanely gorgeous master bedroom of interior designer David Netto. (Images: Edward Bennett Construction, and ELLE decor, October 2005)Finally, this same room is seen yet again in the October 2006 issue of Domino, styled as a dining room.