Tucked beneath a corner vanity, a small fragment of wallpaper quietly gestures toward a much larger story—one that stretches across oceans and cultures.
Preserved wallpaper, Room 8
The Opening of Japan—and the Flood of Influence
For over two centuries, Japan maintained a policy of relative isolation from the Western world. That changed in 1853 with the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry, whose expedition initiated a series of treaties that opened Japanese ports to foreign trade. What followed was not just commerce—but fascination. Japanese goods—woodblock prints, ceramics, textiles, lacquerware—began flowing into Europe and the United States. To Western eyes, these objects felt radically different: asymmetrical compositions, flattened perspectives, natural motifs, and an elegance rooted in restraint. This aesthetic movement became known as Japonisme.
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| Dinner caster, Restaurant Dining Room |
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| Bristolware vase, Restaurant Dining Room |
From Elite Curiosity to Domestic Style
Initially, Japanese art captivated collectors, artists, and designers. Figures like American painter and artist James McNeill Whistler and American artist and designer Louis Comfort Tiffany incorporated Japanese principles into their work. But the appeal did not stay confined to galleries. By the 1870s and 1880s, the Anglo-Japanese style--an offshoot of the broader Aesthetic Movement made popular by Irish author and poet Oscar Wilde--began appearing in middle-class homes (and, in our case, a commercial property). Pattern books, imported goods, and domestic manufacturers translated Japanese design into accessible forms: birds, bamboo, and florals; emphasis on negative space and simplicity; and, flattened, decorative compositions rather than illusionistic depth.
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| Ceiling fixture (detail), Sample Room 2 |
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| Squat globe, Sample Room 2 |
Harmony Between Nature and Design
Even in the remote Rocky Mountain mining camp of Georgetown, Colordo, these global currents made their mark. The popularity of Japanese-inspired design in 19th century America wasn’t accidental. It answered several cultural desires at once:
1. A reaction against industrial excess
As industrialization accelerated, many Americans sought alternatives to mass-produced clutter. Japanese design—with its clarity and restraint—offered a kind of visual relief.
2. A Taste for the Exotic (the Romanticized “Elsewhere”)
Japan was imagined as refined, mysterious, and timeless. Incorporating its motifs allowed Americans to participate in a global, cosmopolitan identity.
3. Alignment with the Aesthetic Movement
The idea of “art for art’s sake”—that beauty itself had value—found a natural partner in Japanese decorative arts, which elevated everyday objects into works of art.
A Fragment as Evidence of Connection
Our surviving piece of wallpaper in Room 8 is out of sight, so it is easy to miss. And yet, it embodies a remarkable truth: even in a frontier setting like Louis Dupuy's Hotel de Paris, global artistic movements were not distant abstractions—they were lived, chosen, and embedded into daily life. It suggests that the people who passed through these rooms—travelers, workers, artists, dreamers—were not isolated from the wider world. They were participants in it.
Looking Closer
Fragments invite us to look more carefully—not just at what is preserved, but at what lingers in the margins. Beneath furniture, behind walls, in overlooked corners, history waits in partial form. And sometimes, a fragment is enough to tell a global story.
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| Wallpaper labled "0 352 A.W.P.M.A." (American Wall Paper Manufacturers Association) |
Awaiting Your Inspection
With the help of Bo Sullivan of Arcalus Period Design and Wayne Mason of Mason & Wolf, we located our wallpaper pattern in the archive of the Benson Ford Research Center at Henry Ford of Dearborn, Michigan. See the full-size reproduction for yourself, now on display in Room 8. Printing by Grizzly Creek Gallery, 512 6th Street, Georgetown, Colorado.
