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Bruce Bradbury arrived in San Francisco from Maine in the 1960s and discovered neighborhoods with seemingly endless rows of elaborately ornamented Victorian houses. Many of these yet unpainted “ladies” had the worn patina of age and forlorn dignity. Once inside, Bruce imagined the interiors restored to their former glory. On research trips to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Bruce documented historic wallpaper patterns, wood blocks, and original renderings by leading English designers. He returned to San Francisco to study the art of repeating pattern and produced full repeat “modules” of some of his first pattern reproductions in pen and ink. He completed his first set of twelve wallpapers in 1979, which included William Morris’ Marigold (1875), screen printing his wallpapers in rich coloring akin to chromolithography. Business began slowly until a 1984 New York Times article drew national attention and a surge in customers. Special thank you to Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers (@bradburywallpaper) for making this exhibition possible. “The Victorian Papered Wall” is on display pre-security in the International Terminal and online at: https://bit.ly/VictorianPaperedWall
This image was posted on October 05, 2022.