![]() ![]() Considerations which became particularly interesting with the development of processes for the creation of so-called pasteboard, a particularly stable and strong board created from pressed and glued Papier-mâché sheets and which could be both cut, worked and joined like solid wood or moulded like plywood. Regardless of which people or culture one examines, Papier-mâché has always been used to create small objects – trays, boxes, pencil cases, picture frames, etc – and in later centuries for architectural features – wall brackets, sconces, cornices, capitols, etc then in 18th century Europe attention increasingly turned to making furniture from Papier-mâché. (Photo © Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service, Papier-mâché Furniture ![]() Mix of wood, Papier-mâché & Papier-mâché veneer. Papier-mâché not only received it’s name in England, but also, arguably, achieved it’s zenith as a material, or as Charles Frederick Bielefeld noted in 1842, “there is yet very good reason to believe that to England is to be attributed the merit of first applying this substance to important uses” 1Ĭabinet made by Jennens and Bettridge, Birmingham ca 1850. Other Englishmen, who spoke French, innocently referred to Papier-mâché as “chewed paper”, unaware of the original faux-interpretation. The term’s origin lying much more in a pretentious 18th century English fashion for French words, whether one understood them or not: and that the average 18th century Englishman didn’t, many mistook the French verb mâcher as “mash” rather than “chew”. Whereas popular legend has it that the origins of the term Papier-mâché involves elderly French ladies being forced to chew paper in London backrooms in order to achieved the required consistency, popular legend is here, as so often, wrong. Similarly, the global spread of pulped/mashed paper shadows the paths of trade, war and cultural exchange taken by paper: from China over Asia, Arabia, North Africa and onto Spain and beyond, including to England where in the mid-18th century it acquired its contemporary name. The history of using pulped/mashed paper to create objects is arguably as long as that of paper itself, and would, by all accounts, appear to have its origins in reusing paper scraps: over many centuries paper was a rare and valuable material, thus, and very sensibly, not one that was left to go to waste. Chair, 1830-1840 Wooden legs, Papier-mâché backrest (Photo © Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service, Papier-mâché – A (Very) Abridged History ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |