Wallpaper and the Artist: From Durer to Warhol

Humble, perishable wallpaper leaps into the category of fine art in this exciting survey. Albrecht Durer's (1471-1528) boldly sensual wallpaper bacchanal of a satyr and his wife amid phoenixes, grapes and twisting vine arabesques astonishes even today. Thomas Rowlandson's (1756-1827) wallpapers are rollicking comic strips whose grotesques satirize fashionable London society. The harmonious botanical motifs of William Morris (1834-1896) sing a hymn to nature. Modern architects like Josef Hoffmann, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier integrated wallpaper into comprehensively designed environments. Andy Warhol's deliberately banal ``Cow'' wallpapers parody both art and wallpaper conventions. Hapgood, an art historian who specializes in 20th-century design, redefines popular conceptions of wallpaper as she samples designs by Dali, Matisse, Calder, Mondrian, Magritte and others, illuminating her discussions with 240 illustrations. Her visually stunning volume opens up new territory for decorative artists as well as students of painting and architecture. (Dec.)