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Object Timeline

1952

  • Work on this object began.

1991

  • We acquired this object.

1993

2013

2015

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2024

  • You found it!

Object ID #18637723

This is a sidewall. It was manufactured by United Wallpaper, Inc.. It is dated 1952 and we acquired it in 1991. Its medium is machine printed on paper. It is a part of the Wallcoverings department.

Cocktail wallpapers began appearing shortly after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 and usually contain stylized renderings of liquor bottles or barware, or whimsical personifications of cocktails. On this design an alcoholic beverage is shown next to a cartoonish animal consuming said beverage. Following the end of Prohibition, the promotion of alcohol was likely still a delicate topic and the whimsical nature of the designs probably made the papers feel less threatening.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Party Animals.

It is credited Gift of Suzanne Lipschutz.

Its dimensions are

102 x 56 cm (40 3/16 x 22 1/16 in. )

It is inscribed

Printed on selvage: "FADE PROOF, JOIN HERE, WASHABLE, MADE IN U.S.A. DESIGN COPYRIGHT 1952, RUN 2 G22, U.W.P.C. OF N.A. UNION MADE" From the Fabri-tone line of matching fabrics and papers.

Cite this object as

Object ID #18637723; Manufactured by United Wallpaper, Inc.; machine printed on paper; 102 x 56 cm (40 3/16 x 22 1/16 in. ); Gift of Suzanne Lipschutz; 1991-89-160

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Virtue in Vice.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18637723/ |title=Object ID #18637723 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>