Imperial China The Chinese during the
Han dynasty appeared to be the first to use papier-mâché around 200
CE, not long after they learned how to make paper. They employed the technique to make items such as warrior helmets, mirror cases, or ceremonial masks. Archeological sources suggest they also made pots.
Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, coffins and
death masks were often made from
cartonnage—layers of
papyrus or
linen covered with
plaster.
Middle and Far East 's tomb, the
Gur-e-Amir, in
Samarkand, Uzbekistan, is covered in papier-mâché.|alt=Photograph from the ground of a round dome. The lower stage is square. The stage under the dome is octagonal and has a window visible in the photograph. The dome is covered in symmetric golden patterns resembling a fleur-de-lys. The patterns are set in circles encircling the dome, smaller and smaller towards the center. An unlit chandelier hangs from the top of the dome. In Persia, papier-mâché has been used to manufacture small painted boxes, trays, étagères and cases.
Japan and China also produced laminated paper articles using papier-mâché. In Japan and India, papier-mâché was used to add decorative elements to armor and shields. In Persia, from the 16th century onwards, papier-mâché bookbindings were preferred to leather ones because the paint held better on the paper. This continued at least into the Qajar period, particularly in Tabriz and Isfahan. The Louvre owns a leather and papier-mâché board with a painted scene, and a later papier-mâché board with lacquered or varnished birds and flowers. They also made scientific instruments like a celestial globe known as the Kugel globe (1694 / 1726) in painted, gilded and varnished papier-mâché on a wooden core. Other papier-mâché items in the Louvre include a pencil box with floral decoration (1880 / 1890, Tabriz), a lacquered writing case (1900) and a half-moon mirror box with a typical "" decoration (1850 / 1900). In Japan
Kashmir papier-mâché has been used to manufacture boxes (small and big), bowls, trays, étagères, useful and decorative items, models, birds and animals, vases, lights, corporate gifts and lot more. It remains highly marketed in India and Pakistan and is a part of the luxury ornamental handicraft market. The Shah
Hamdan Mosque in
Srinagar, one of the city's oldest mosques, is celebrated for its intricate papier-mâché work on the walls and ceilings. Similarly, the
Shalimar Bagh, a garden created by Mughal Emperor
Jahangir, and dubbed the "Versailles of Mughal Emperors," features a papier-mâché ceiling in its central pavilion that has lasted nearly 400 years. Papier-mâché, a popular Kashmiri craft, originated in the 15th century when King
Zain-ul-Abidin invited papier-mâché artists from Central Asia. Prior to this, vibrant patterns had been painted on wood, used in items like ceiling panels and furniture. In recent years, there has been a decline in the number of artisans engaged in Kashmiri papier-mâché due to economic challenges and a lack of sustainable income. However, local craftsmen continue to keep the tradition alive by integrating contemporary designs while preserving traditional methods.
Ladakh In
Ladakh, papier-mâché with paper pulp mixed with clay, cotton, flour, and glue, is used to create brightly colored
masks depicting deities and spirits, essential in monastery mystery plays. This technique is also used to make statues for monasteries.
Europe Italy Originating in Asia, papier-mâché reached Europe in the 15th century, where it was first used for bas-reliefs and nativity figures. By incorporating some mineral elements, artisans were able to make copies of traditional statues for devotional use, which gained popularity after the Counter-Reformation. New devotional practices rested on faithful copies of particularly venerated images reproduced in series in stucco or in papier-mâché, such as
Lorenzo Ghiberti's Madonnas, or Donatello's (c. 1386-1466) bas-relief of the Virgin and Child, known as the
Madonna of Verona (Louvre, RF 589, 1450 / 1500 polychrome cartapesta ). Jacopo Sansovino also used papier-mâché, for example in his bas-relief
Virgin and Child (polychrome cartapesta, c.1550, Louvre: RF 746). Another
Virgin and Child (with two putti) is attributed to Sansovino (1532, found in Venice, soon to be exhibited at the
Ca' d'Oro). The
Museo Nazionale d'Abruzzo has a Saint Jerome (c.1567-1569, polychrome papier-mâché) by
Pompeo Cesura. Baroque culture in Italy embraced papier-mâché, fostering devotion among the faithful through vivid religious imagery. In Bologna, in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, with sculptors such as Mazza (
Giuseppe Maria Mazza), his pupil
Angelo Piò and , papier-mâché flourished. In the nineteenth century, Emilia-Romagna once again took over with the famous workshops in
Faenza of and his sons and and the followers of and Graziani, and the workshop of Gaetano Vitené and his successors, and the latest specialists of cartapesta: Enrico dal Monte and his son Gaetano dal Monte (1916-2006). Early examples of Italian cartapasta seem to include mostly bas-reliefs. For example, there are many copies in cartapasta of
Benedetto da Maiano's ''Madonna 'del Latte
(Nursing Madonna), the earliest ones attributed to his workshop, but some others dating from the early 17th century. Some were made in Tuscany, such as a polychrome papier-mâché of The Deposition of Christ
with a papier-mâché Christ on a wooden cross. Another papier-mâché bas-relief representing The Beheading of Saint Paul'' was inspired by
Alessandro Algardi, who worked almost exclusively in Rome. The Louvre owns two very different pieces dating from the very end of the 17th century: a celestial globe (1693 signed 'Coronelli': SN 878; SN 340) and an earth globe (1697 signed 'Coronelli', 'P. Vincenzo, Venice': OA 10683 A) In the 18th century, cartapesta also developed in Lecce (Puglia), where it remains a speciality. The
Castle of Charles V houses the Museo della Cartapesta. Religious bas-reliefs in papier-mâché were still in vogue, but a man like
Giacomo Colombo, who seems to have worked mainly in Naples, made a high-relief
Saint Paschal Baylón (c.1720) measuring 168 cm. The places of production diversified: we know of a cartapesta 'Jesus Christ Dead in the Tomb' made in Sicily. In Siena, cartapesta products also diversified, from painted and gilded papier-mâché cherubs to boxes, trays, shelves, wall lamps and more. In the 19th century, new objects appeared, such as table centrepieces representing a pyramid of papier-mâché and glass fruits under a glass cloche, or views of Italy, probably made for tourists, such as one of "il Colosseo ed i Fori Imperiali".
Pope Pius VII was crowned on 21 March 1800 (during the
Marengo campaign), in Venice, wearing a papier-mâché papal tiara. Founded in 1802 by Giovanni Battista Paravia, Paravia Publishing dominated educational materials in Italian schools by the late 19th century, offering papier-mâché globes, anatomical models, and flower models along with many other things. Didactic papier-mâché models of flowers were also made by C. Luppi in Modena (1900-1930). Papier-mâché came to be used for carnival masks and floats, in
Viareggio for example.
England In 1772, an English inventor, Henry Clay (apprenticed to
John Baskerville in 1740 - died in 1812), patented a process for making laminated sheets of papier-mâché and treating them with
linseed oil to produce waterproof panels. His technique "involved pasting sheets of paper together and then oiling, varnishing and stove-hardening them. This process produced panels suitable for coaches, carriages, sedan chairs and furniture. It was claimed that the material could be "sawn, planed, dove-tailed or mitred in the same manner as if made in wood". Clay,
japanner, was a supplier to the Royal Family. (It was probably in the 1660s that Thomas Allgood had pioneered the use of
japanning on metal.) Clay became a papier-mâché manufacturer in or before 1772 (until his death), first in Birmingham and then in London. When his patent expired in 1802 "a number of rival producers set up including
Jennens and Bettridge who opened up in 1816 in Henry Clay's former Birmingham works".
Theodore Jennens patented a process in 1847 for steaming and pressing laminated sheets into various shapes, which were then used to manufacture trays, chair backs, and structural panels, usually laid over a wood or metal armature for strength. The papier-mâché was smoothed and
lacquered, or given a pearl-shell finish. The industry lasted through the 19th century. This made the material more durable and it could be moulded into objects that would otherwise be difficult to manufacture, such as the globe of Jennens and Bettridge's sewing table, and that could withstand greater wear and tear than traditional papier mâché such as "teatrays, waiters, caddies and dressing cases … japanned and decorated with painted scenes and classical (Etruscan) and Chinoiserie subjects". Jennens and Betridge (London, Birmingham) made large tea caddies circa 1850. Other objects included cane holders, fruit bowls with mother-of-pearl inlays or papier mache head dolls by "Childs & Sons". The papier-mâché stags' heads in
Powerscourt were German, though. In the 18th century, papier-mâché (that could be
gilded) had begun to appear as a low-cost alternative to similarly treated
plaster or carved wood in architecture, even replacing stucco in ceilings and wall decorations. Some Italian craftsmen (and the painter
Giuseppe Mattia Borgnis), were invited by
Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer, around 1750 to work on
St Lawrence's Church, West Wycombe and
West Wycombe Park, maybe importing carta pasta to England. Robert Adam soon embraced paper stucco for elaborate interiors. The fan vaulting on the ceiling of the gallery at
Strawberry Hill House, copied from the nave of Henry VII’s Chapel at Westminster Abbey, is made of papier-mâché over a plaster base. By the 19th century, two London companies—Jackson and Son, founded by fondateur
George Jackson, and Charles Frederick Bielefeld's workshop—advanced papier-mâché's architectural use. Jackson had previously worked for Robert Adam; he established his firm in 1780, and it became one of the leading suppliers of decorative elements, particularly for ceilings, walls, and other architectural details, using plaster and papier-mâché. Jackson and Son won a gold medal at the 1878
Paris Exposition. In the 1830s,
Jacob Owen's redesign of Dublin Castle featured papier-mâché work by Charles Frederick Bielefeld (1803–1864), known for his cornices and consoles at
St James's Palace. Bielefeld created papier-mâché ceiling roses, cornices, and Corinthian capitals for the castle, which were later reproduced in plaster after a fire in 1941. In 1846, Bielefeld patented large, robust papier-mâché panels that could be painted for ceiling and wall decorations, or used as cabin dividers in steamboats and train carriages as well as prefabricated homes. Bielefeld "modelled, gilt and fixed" the ornaments of papier mâché of the
Theatre Royal in Drury Lane in 1847 (some of which were removed in 1851). The popularity of papier-mâché declined as electroplating offered a cheaper metal-coated alternative. McCallum and Hodson ("Summer-row, near the Town-hall, Birmingham" ), the last papier-mâché company, closed in 1920.
Martin Travers, the English ecclesiastical designer, made much use of papier-mâché for his church furnishings in the 1920s, in
St Mary's, Bourne Street and
St Augustine's, Queen's Gate, for example. Papier-mâché was still used in the 20th century, for
George Philip & son's papier-mâché globes (1963) for example.
A church in Norway (1746-1822), a cartographer who also quarried marble and extracted lime, had his own farm workers build a large octagonal paper church known as "Hop church", on his estate near Bergen in 1796. It was uniquely constructed using papier-mâché as a building material (a blend of waste paper, lime, and other natural ingredients) that could mimic the look of marble. described it: "The supporting structures are made of stone, but the church is covered inside and out in papier-mâché. In each room of the farmhouse, also made of papier-mâché, there is a large stove, and these stoves are literally made of paper". Christie may have drawn inspiration from English papier-mâché techniques that he encountered on a trip to England. Unfortunately, the building deteriorated due to bad weather, and after Christie's death, the new owner,
Michael Krohn, demolished both the church and mansion in 1830. Today, only 's watercolour of
The octagonal church at Wernersholm (1827) illustrates what the church once looked like.
Germany The cartapesta expert Raffaele Casciaro states that the earliest use of papier-mâché (or "Pappmaché") in Germany dates back to the first half of the 15th century, and he mentions a sculpture of the Virgin Mary that was part of a "Vesperbild" (or Pietà), by an anonymous German sculptor using stucco, pastiglia and cartapesta). In the 16th century, the North German sculptor carved wooden moulds from which a plaster cast was made. These in turn were used to make multiple copies of papier-mâché Protestant images such as portraits of Martin Luther. There is an example in the Danish National Museum. and a portrait of
Philip Melanchthon in the collection of the
Staatliches Museum Schwerin. Georg Heinrich (1717-1776) founded a 'lacquerware factory' in Braunschweig in 1763 together with his father Georg Siegmund Eustachius Stobwasser. Due to the high quality of the (papier-mâché, wood or metal) goods and the resulting high demand from the Brunswick court, court society, the military and the merchant class, the new 'factory' soon employed almost a hundred people and started selling its products nationally and internationally. They produced household items as well as luxury items. However, their main products were snuff boxes and tobacco pipes, in which even the meerschaum was replaced by papier-mâché. The snuffboxes were particularly popular - not least because of their sometimes erotic depictions, which were concealed under a false bottom. High-quality furniture was also produced for courts throughout Europe. The manufactory soon attracted a large number of highly qualified painters, such as the miniature painter
Friedrich Georg Weitsch, who applied Stobwasser's miniature motifs (including idealised, romantic landscapes, historical and mythological scenes based on Italian, French or Dutch models) to the objects. Paintings by ,
Pascha Johann Friedrich Weitsch and his son
Friedrich Georg Weitsch, and
Heinrich Brandes are also mentioned. King Frederick the Great tried to entice Stobwasser away to Berlin, but in 1772/73 only a branch office (the 'Manufaktur für Lackwaren') was founded, specialising in the manufacture of lacquered lamps. The Brunswick headquarters closed down in 1863. Stobwasser Berlin transitioned to lighting fixture production, becoming, by 1900, one of Germany's leading lamp manufacturers. The Braunschweig Municipal Museum has a large collection of 'Stobwasser articles'. In the late 18th century,
Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, at the suggestion of one of his footmen, , considered using papier-mâché to redecorate
Ludwigslust Palace. Bachmann became the first head of the Ludwigsluster Carton (papier-mâché) workshop, which initially produced capitals, ornamental mouldings, statues etc for the palace, its church, park, and nearby buildings such as . The entire interior decoration of the Golden Hall of Ludwigslust Palace, including the sconces, is made of papier-mâché. Later the workshop turned to the production of small furniture, vases, centrepieces, portrait busts, church decorations and other decorative objects, which were advertised in the Journal des Luxus und der Moden, among other publications, and sold throughout Europe. Genuine
Mauchline ware made in Scotland for the tourist market between the 1820s and 1900, notably hand-painted snuffboxes, was flooded out of the market by German-made imitations, some of them in papier-mâché rather than wood. It is difficult to say when the first papier-mâché doll was made. The date 1540 is everywhere on the Internet, but it doesn't refer to anything specific, except sometimes to a book by
Édouard Fournier, in which he mentions doll makers using a "terrible mixture of clay, paper and plaster" before 1540, and suggests that doll makers used the same mixture when they worked as ornamentalists making cornice and ceiling ornaments in carton-pierre. But he only mentions "un compte de 1540" (probably in the sense of a report or an invoice). The date 1540 is also too early for carton-pierre. What we do know is that papier-mâché was used in the early 19th century, perhaps since the mid-18th century, in Nuremberg ( had a shop there and published his first mail-order catalog in 1793) and
Sonneberg when they developed into world-renowned toy manufacturing centers. An important doll manufacturer in the last decades of the 19th century was , in Sonneberg. There was also
Armand Marseille in Köppelsdorf, a district of Sonneberg, who from 1885 developed into one of the world's largest suppliers of bisque porcelain doll heads, some of them at least with moving eyes and a papier-mâché body.
Ernst Heubach's doll heads could also be mounted on a papier-mâché body. In the middle of the 19th century, another German,
Ludwig Greiner (†1874) had emigrated to the United States of America and founded a papier-mâché doll manufacturing company in 1840. Doll heads (like globes) were moulded in two parts: "For round objects, such as doll heads, for example, two molds are used, one for the front of the head, the other for the back; the two pieces of cardboard made in these different moulds are joined by bringing them together and gluing strips of strong paper over the joint. All that remained was to smooth the surface before painting and varnishing. Many other toys were made of papier-mâché, such as puppets, or puppet heads, and all kinds of animals, pull toy dogs, rocking horses or horses on wheels, and even elephants on wheels 1910/1920 In 1900, Richard Mahr (1876-1952) founded in Steinach, Germany, producing papier-mâché figures for nativity scenes. Production halted in 1940, but revived in 1990. Today, Marolin offers toy animals and nativity figures in plastic and papier-mâché.
France Papier-mâché objects were made under Louis XIV, such as a watch-holder in the form of a clock (Cartel porte-montre) in papier-mâché on a wooden frame, with a finish imitating tortoiseshell, or a polychrome papier-mâché bas-relief depicting the 'Immaculate Conception'. Papier-mâché was used at the Château de Versailles in the 18th century: it allowed ornamentalists to improve the decorations and give them greater freedom to adapt to the different spaces to be decorated. The decoration could also be modified or changed at minimal cost. The decoration of the
Théâtre de la Reine in the grounds of the
Petit Trianon in Marie-Antoinette's time was largely papier-mâché. At that time, many precious objects were made using papier-mâché. One example is a case made around 1760-1770. It was crafted from wood and papier-mâché, covered in black lacquer, and decorated with scenes from mythology inspired by
The Birth of Venus and
The Abduction of Europa by
François Boucher in oil paint. The finish was a lacquer imitation called
vernis Martin, developed in 1728. The
Musée Carnavalet houses a
Model of the Chinese Pavilion at the , circa 1775-1785, with papier-mâché rocks that are actually boxes. There were also many papier-mâché mirror frames. French
lacquer applied to cardboard is a technique similar to lacquered papier-mâché invented by Guillaume Martin (1689-1749) around 1740. We know of cardboard bowls covered with red lacquer imitating the shape of Chinese bowls attributed to Étienne-Simon Martin (1703-1770). The same technique could be used to make vases, for example. The Louvre owns a round candy box in violet varnished cardboard lined with brown tortoiseshell with a gouache signed van
Blarenberghe on its lid. Papier-mâché tableware was also made, like this Déjeuner breakfast tableware) from the
French Directory period, ca. 1790/1800 Pasteboard was used for the geocentric armillary sphere attributed to in the Louvre The Adt papier-mâché dynasty was a family-owned manufacturer of papier-mâché consumer goods that started in the mid-18th century in the Saar region with small-scale hand production and went on to become the world leader in papier-mâché products before being driven into bankruptcy. Its catalog listed over 10,000 products: from buttons and snuff boxes to cardboard casings for grenades, paper wagon wheels and items for the electrical industry, the company produced almost anything that could be made from papier-mâché. After the
Franco-Prussian War, the factory in Forbach (Lorraine) surpassed the production output in and became the company headquarters until 1918. Mathias Adt, son of the miller Johann Michael Adt (b. 1715), began making functional tobacco boxes. A monk, probably Mathias's brother, introduced him to papier-mâché boxes associated with the Parisian bookbinder Martin, although these had failed commercially in Paris. By 1739, Mathias was producing boxes for the , and Abbot Michael Stein saw potential in the trade of what were called miller's tins or monastery tins. They were made by gluing strips of paper around a solid block of wood, which was then removed. The tin was then soaked in linseed oil and dried at low to medium heat, and when the surface was perfectly smooth, it was covered with three to eighteen layers of varnish. Mathias Adt, son of the miller Johann Michael Adt (b. 1715), began making tobacco boxes. A monk, probably Mathias's brother, introduced him to the papier-mâché boxes associated with the Parisian bookbinder Martin, which had proved a commercial failure in Paris. By 1739, Mathias was making boxes for the , and the abbot saw potential in the trade in what were called miller's tins or monastery tins. These were made by gluing strips of paper around a solid block of wood which was then removed. The tin was then soaked in linseed oil and dried at low to medium heat, and when the surface was perfectly smooth, it was covered with three to eighteen layers of varnish.) was used extensively at Versailles and the Palais du Louvre. The Salle des Bijoux in the Musée Royal (now Room 661 in the Musée du Louvre), in the former Grand Cabinet of Louis XIV, was redecorated between 1828 and 1840: the new wall decoration, in wood and carton-pierre painted in faux marble or gilded, can be seen in a painting by Joseph Auguste. The Duke of
Nemours (1814-1896), after the death of his elder brother in 1842, had the first floor of the
Pavillon de Marsan refurbished and engaged the services of sculptor and ornamentalist Michel-Victor Cruchet (1815-1899), who made carved wooden furniture and architectural ornaments in carton-pierre. Less prestigious items are the dummy heads ("marottes") used by milliners, hatters or wigmakers and hairdressers to model or display their products. They could be made of polychrome papier-mâché or carton bouilli ("boiled cardboard"), and some had "yeux sulfure" which were simply glass eyes. Male heads are relatively rare. There were also papier-mâché hats to decorate a hatter's window. A surprising item is a bear's head: it was a taxidermist's dummy used to make fashionable bearskin carpets or bedside rugs. Schoolchildren may have been lucky enough to get a papier-mâché pencil box decorated with a
transfer print while their parents seated on a
gondola chair made of wood and black-lacquered papier-mâché sorted their mail into the papier-mâché or boiled cardboard letter rack decorated with mother-of-pearl inlays. There might be somewhere a bowl of papier-mâché fruit painted in all the colours of the rainbow under a glass cloche. There would be papier-mâché statues in churches. This was also the time of the very accurate human and veterinary papier-mâché anatomical models by
Jean-François Ameline or
Louis Auzoux. Didactic pieces were also made by
Émile Deyrolle in France. In mid-19th-century France, high-quality artists' articulated mannequins or "lay figures" by Paul Huot and others, like "Child No. 98," (in the
Fitzwilliam Museum) with its removable papier-mâché head, became invaluable tools for painters. In 1904, La Revue universelle described Paris's small-scale toy industry relying on couples who worked in modest Temple and Belleville apartments and made papier-mâché items, with women pressing the papier-mâché into a mould and then unmoulding items, while men coloured and assembled them. Items included masks, carnival heads, streamers, zobos called s in French,
April Fools' Day fish, , meats and pastries for theatre productions, fairground ball toss games, etc.
Netherlands and Belgium A ceiling made of papier-mâché can be found at
Soestdijk Palace and in the spectacular hall of
Groningen railway station. The
Museum aan de Stroom in Antwerp owns the papier-mâché head of
Druon Antigoon made by
Pieter Coecke van Aelst in 1534-35. It used to be carried in a procession, together with that of Pallas Athena.
Russia Papier-mâché was introduced to Russia in the early 18th century, likely through Western Europe. By the mid-19th century, Russian artisans had mastered and uniquely developed papier-mâché crafting, leading to the rise of
Russian lacquer art, a style particularly centred in villages like Fedoskino, famous for
Fedoskino miniatures (there are many details in the pages in French and in German). Cardboard houses built by a Russian engineer, one Melnikov, are sometimes mentioned: a railway hut in Benderi (probably
Bender, Moldova) and a hut for the sick in Bucharest seem to have been assembled.
Mexico , traditional figures for
Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico
Cartonería or papier-mâché sculpture is a traditional handcraft in Mexico. The papier-mâché works are also called "carton Piedra" (rock cardboard) for the rigidness of the final product. the Carving Capital of the Philippines. It is said that the first known taka "was wrapped around a mold carved from wood and painted with decorative pattern." a one-act farce by Georges Polti (1867-1946), created before the First World War (, 1920). Georges Lafaye (1915-1989) also built up a collection of puppets over the course of the century, some in papier mâché. This material is also used in the decorative arts, for example by Catherine David to create the frame of a large papier-mâché mirror with mirror marquetry (1970s). More recently, artists such as Gilles Jonemann, with his brooch in white coral and papier mâché, and Christian Astuguevieille have introduced papier mâché into jewellery design. Sculptors also used it, whether in works such as
Homme au lévrier or Jean Dubuffet, in the 1960s, who experimented with papier mâché in sculptures such as Bouche en coup de sabre and Fruits de terre. His use of this material reflects his exploration of so-called 'poor' materials to create raw, singular forms.
Arnold Böcklin, with the help of his son-in-law , made several copies of '' Shield with Medusa's face'' (Musée d'Orsay : S RF 2007 12). The expressionist painter
James Ensor owned a papier-mâché "Fiji Mermaid," which was displayed at the Grand Palais in 2009 as part of an exhibition of his works. The original Fiji Mermaid was the one in
P. T. Barnum's 19th-century sideshow attraction. Other examples are found in museums like the Harvard Museum and MUCEM in Marseille. Some artists take old ideas, play with them, and give them a new twist: for instance,
Michelangelo Pistoletto, a pioneer of Arte Povera, used humble materials like paper mâché and iron in his work Mappamondo (1966-1968). Similarly,
Riccardo Dalisi's Sedia in cartapesta -1973) is a chair entirely crafted from papier mâché. German surrealist
Hans Bellmer reinvented papier-mâché dolls with his polychrome wood and paper-mâché figures with natural hair and painted details, a form that blurs innocence with unsettling complexity. Paolo Spalluto (from Lecce), inspired by the paper church in Norway, constructed the "Paper Room" in Tjøme, with walls covered in papier-mâché, and has also crafted a paper mosaic and a wall made with papier-mâché bricks. Mexico is also home to a synthesis of ancient art and modern creations.
Diego Rivera and
Frida Kahlo showed an interest in Mexican folk art, including cartonería, and collected traditional crafts. The
Museo Dolores Olmedo preserves some of them.
Pedro Linares is famous for creating the first papier-mâché figures of 'alebrijes' (fantastic, colourful creatures typical of Mexican culture). Many contemporary sculptors have used papier-mâché, for example
Kiki Smith and
John Connell.
Claes Oldenburg's first one-man show in 1959 included papier-mâché sculptures.
Mirka Mora used papier-mâché to create playful, colourful sculptures, sometimes reminiscent of big heads and giant carnival figures (Little Miss Muffet, 1974).
Paper boats One common item made in the 19th century in America was the paper
canoe, most famously made by Waters & Sons of
Troy, New York. The invention of the continuous sheet paper machine allows paper sheets to be made of any length, and this made an ideal material for building a seamless boat
hull. The paper of the time was significantly stretchier than modern paper, especially when damp, and this was used to good effect in the manufacture of paper boats. A layer of thick, dampened paper was placed over a hull mold and tacked down at the edges. A layer of glue was added, allowed to dry, and sanded down. Additional layers of paper and glue could be added to achieve the desired thickness, and cloth could be added as well to provide additional strength and stiffness. The final product was trimmed, reinforced with wooden strips at the
keel and
gunwales to provide stiffness, and waterproofed. Paper
racing shells were highly competitive during the late 19th century. Few examples of paper boats survived. One of the best known paper boats was the canoe, the "Maria Theresa", used by Nathaniel Holmes Bishop to travel from New York to Florida in 1874–75. An account of his travels was published in the book
Voyage of the Paper Canoe.
Paper observatory domes Papier-mâché panels were used in the late 19th century and early 20th century to produce lightweight domes, used primarily for
observatories. The domes were constructed over a wooden or iron framework, and the first ones were made by the same manufacturer that made the early paper boats, Waters & Sons. The domes used in observatories had to be light in weight so that they could easily be rotated to position the telescope opening in any direction, and large enough so that it could cover the large
refractor telescopes in use at the time. == Applications ==