Artist: Jean Gabriel Charvet
Date: 1804
Museum: Te Papa (Wellington, New Zealand)
Technique: Woodblock Print
This essay originally appeared in New Zealand Art at Te Papa (Te Papa Press, 2018). From the moment James Cook arrived back in England following his first voyage to the Pacific in 1771, a flurry of illustrated publications spread news and information about his travels. Over the next few decades interest in the Pacific continued unabated and was supported by the circulation of objects, books, prints and paintings as well as plays in England and Europe. The panoramic French wallpaper, Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique, 1804-5, represents a summation of the intense interest in the Pacific aroused by Cook’s voyages. Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique is a rare, spectacular, large-scale panoramic wallpaper, printed in colour from woodblocks with colour finishing by hand. It was printed by the entrepreneur and innovative wallpaper manufacturer, Joseph Dufour after a design by textile and wallpaper designer, Jean-Gabriel Charvet. A panoramic wallpaper consists of a series of drops that can either be hung individually or joined together to form a panoramic scene in a domestic environment. The wallpaper was popular and was sold throughout Europe and in North America where it adorned the interiors of wealthy individuals. It could be arranged in a number of ways to suit its architectural setting. The complete sequence of Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique consists of twenty drops, each of which were numbered and described in an accompanying brochure written by Dufour. Te Papa
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