The discreet beauty of decorated paper

In our admittedly limited hierarchies of art materials and media, paper isn’t always among the brightest. But a new book by Mindell Dubansky, author, book curator, and museum librarian for preservation at the Thomas J. Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, proves that the art of paper can be a page turner.

A lifetime of Dubansky’s passion and subject matter expertise has been brought together in Pattern and Flow: A Golden Age of American Decorated Paper, 1960s to 2000s, an extraordinary feat of research that delves deep into the niche world of paper decorating. fine art paper The book launch accompanies an eponymous exhibition at the Grolier Club in New York, curated by Dubansky and opening on January 18, which will feature 150 objects from the Watson Library collection.

John Coventry marbled paper with stencil and collage (early 1970s)

The book examines 53 living artists, all dedicated over the past half century to learning, teaching, and experimenting with the art of intricately embellished paper. Once a mainstay of home décor and elite publishing, decorated paper has experienced many ups and downs in value, reputation, and public consumption over the decades.

“In the United States in the 19th century, after the invention of wood-pulp paper, many more books could be printed at low cost,” Dubansky explained in an interview with Hyperallergic. “Bookbinders before the 1850s marbled their own cover papers, which you see in books from that era.” Later in the 19th century, the use of printing marbling rollers allowed anyone to mechanically roll a pattern onto the edge of a book.

Marbled paper “Fantasy” by Iris Nevins (1994) features watercolor with egg white and olive oil on Hahnemühle Natur Text paper.

Ironically, the art of marbling was often used to imitate real marble as a cost-saving measure, and decorated paper covers were much cheaper to produce than leather bindings, so at various points in history , marbled paper was actually an inexpensive alternative.

The First International Meeting of Marble Makers in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1989 followed several decades of independent practitioners reviving old techniques and forging new experimental advances in the medium. Dubansky’s survey begins in the 1960s, when pioneers of the field such as Diane and Paul Maurer, John Coventry, Douglas Morse Howell, and Peggy Skycraft began teaching themselves, and eventually others, how to use marbled paper. The book includes a glossary of special terms that illuminates various techniques, motifs, tools, and materials of the art form.

Dubansky traces the first solo forays from the 1960s to the field’s establishment in the 1970s, followed by expansion and commercialization in the 1980s, to the Internet-driven globalization of this anachronistic artistic field in the 1980s. 1990. The book culminates in the 2000s “and beyond,” as a new generation explores the well-established legacy of decorated papermaking and begins to take it in its own experimental directions.

Thomas Leech, “Under and Over Marble” (1991) overmarbled paper, base painted in luminescent silver

The book is a visual playground and absolute catnip for enthusiasts of form, pattern, and color, but it is also a crucial compendium of information about a thriving but highly specialized art practice and its players for more than half a century. . The experience is twofold: A coffee table book with stunning images also serves as an invaluable reference that captures an astonishing amount of information from primary resources. This is thanks to Dubansky’s determination to track down, visit, and speak with dozens of living artists, some of whom have had very little recognition outside of his field.

“People often see many [mass-produced] marbling, and it’s usually not very good,” Dubanksy said. “But when an artist focuses on this for decades and you see what he can do, it’s amazing.”

Polly Fox, “Spanish Marbled Paper” (undated)