Murals and scenic wallpaper add distinctly personal touch

Lately, I have observed a revival of scenic wallpapers and hand-painted murals.

Shelter magazines and blogs have become enamored with this venerable and once impossibly expensive form of wall decoration.

Perhaps it is the power of the scenics and murals to express something so personal and interpretive. Perhaps it’s the way one can imaginatively lose oneself in a larger-than-life world that surrounds on all four sides. Or maybe it’s just that it is bigger than a bread box and these days is cheaper than a good painting.

I find the fact that historic and older homes boast murals a bellwether for scenics. Rooms may be repainted time and time again; wallpapers come and go, applied and peeled off with the whim of fashion; glazes and decorative wall finishes, no matter how spectacular, have their day; but the finely painted mural or scenic wallpaper seems to outlast all.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the itinerant artist who traveled from state to state, brush and paint box in hand, was a welcomed guest in many a well-heeled household. The artist would hole up in the turret’s servants’ room, enjoy a daily meal or two in addition to a few dollars, and frequently would stay quite beyond his welcome by adding more petals to the rose or over-gilding the lily.

So enamored was I of this itinerant artist concept that I commissioned a very talented scenic artist who, unbeknownst to me, was homeless, and relished residing at clients’ homes and partaking of their excellent food. His paint-work became exceedingly slow in the process, though still quite beautiful.

But after several months, eventually I had to evict this artist despite his unfinished masterpiece. My client was near to murdering him and strangling me!

Luckily, I have decorated many homes in which I discovered (to my delight) the work of these artists and could continue to preserve their work. Idiosyncratic, sometimes primitive, and always charming, I have delighted in redecorating rooms with these murals intact.

Not always perfect, these hand-painted wonders truly express the vision and imagination of both the commissioning owners and the artists as well. From a design perspective, apart from the fact that the room needs no embellishment as far as prints and paintings are concerned, a simple mirror hung judiciously is practically all one requires.

In the world of scenic wallpapers, the French company Zuber reigned supreme during the 19th and early 20th century. Zuber depicted landscapes that detailed—from a very European perspective—the exoticism of the New World. For example, highly colorful depictions of Niagara Falls, the Florida tropics, ruined Mexican temples and Native American Indian tribe scenes were all the rage in fine drawing rooms located in the palaces, chateaus and manor houses of Europe. The Zuber wallpapers were created not by hand-painting but by hand-blocking. Zuber utilized countless woodblocks, each designated to delineate a vivid cloud or subtle shade of a catalpa tree, in creating its masterpieces.

As the years have drawn on, many of these Zuber papers have charmingly crackled, weathered and smudged, beautiful to behold as antique fragments.

If you come upon them, snatch them up.

Lucky for us, Zuber still produces these scenes from the original woodblocks carved in the late 18th century. Formidably expensive, their brilliant, rich colorations are transformative and an investment in the future. Zuber scenes are found in countless museums—The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and Winterthur, an American country estate in Delaware, which is the former home of Henry Francis du Pont, to name a few.

Zubers practically litter the house museums of the south, particularly around Charleston and the Eastern Seaboard in general. These scenics are often found plying their charms in Park Avenue lobbies and penthouses as well as in sweeping estates on Long Island.

Designer Sara Bune, who lives in Springs and Manhattan, cleverly laid out an exotic Zuber-style mural that ran up the staircase of her charming West Village townhouse. All manner of 18th century-style elephants, monkeys and the like trail up her plaster walls to striking effect.

Next of kin to the Zuber and like styles are the Chinese scenic papers, which were hugely popular in the 18th century and are now enjoying a wildly successful revival due to the New York-based company Gracie, Inc.

Reissued in eye-popping red, orange, silver and gold leaf backgrounds, these murals appeal to the current vivid trend à la mode. Gracie has visibly held on fast to its newfound audience while formulating pieced-together scenics whose paper assemblage and texture feels remarkably antique and authentic.

There is also nothing quite as dazzling as Gracie’s rendering of peonies, chrysanthemums, nightingales, butterflies and ornate birdcages. All drawn upon a chalky matte background, these oriental imports tantalize one’s visual senses and often render one absolutely speechless!

Certainly there are other companies that produce these images, but none are as extensive, so custom oriented, or so experienced in archival knowledge.

Southampton resident James Alan Smith has gained national recognition as an accomplished muralist with an in-depth knowledge of this craft. In his work, Mr. Smith acknowledges the prolific contribution itinerant artist Rufus Porter made in the 19th century. Interestingly enough, in addition to being an American painter, Mr. Porter was also an inventor and the founder of Scientific American magazine. Back in the day, Mr. Porter produced stencils of windmills, barns and houses, which aided in hastening the hand painting in his murals, though in his contemporary work, Mr. Smith—who is an expert scholar on Mr. Porter’s work—emphasizes that “murals are custom designed, unique, specific and personal to every client.”

For a Massachusetts couple who purchased an historic Federal home in Water Mill, Mr. Smith painted a powder room mural of 18th century views of Boston Commons, the state capitol, Pepper Pot Bridge and Harvard Yard. For another client, he conjured up a Moroccan-tented fantasy that opened onto expansive desert vistas. In yet another commission, he re-created pastoral scenes of the Wye Plantation in Maryland on the home’s dining room walls.

Mr. Smith also muses on the work of American colonial era painter Winthrop Chandler, another 19th century itinerant artist, who made his living painting the framed wooden over-mantles of rather crusty penurious Yankees. These early Americans were said to have preferred Chandler’s low cost murals over the costly framed paintings executed by schooled painters.

Today, many designers—Mr. Smith included—advise mounting both the murals and the scenic wallpaper on canvas so that in case the walls crack underneath, the surface above retains its integrity. Recently, he received a happy phone call from a client whose apartment had been flooded by a burst pipe from above. Fortunately, the water had run behind his canvas-mounted mural and all that had to be repaired were a few touch ups.

Though previously tricky (i.e., expensive-seeming), with today’s free for all markets, murals may possibly be more achievable economically. With more time spent at home these days, the enduring quality of scenic papers and murals makes sense. Plus, these pieces of wall art feel more enveloping and charming, while endowing your home with a specific personal appeal that could possibly outlast your lifetime, entertaining future generations as well as your own.

Marshall Watson is a nationally recognized interior and furniture designer who lives and works in the Hamptons and New York City. Reach him at 105 West 72nd Street, Suite 9B, New York, NY 10023.