The Schmitz-Horning Co. wall decoration catalogue from 1913-1914 is one of the Cooper Hewitt Design Library’s many trade catalogues. Schmitz-Horning Co. opened in 1905 as a wallpaper and mural manufacturing firm in Cleveland, Ohio.
Various panoramic friezes from the Schmitz-Horning Co.
The company focused on making large, wallpaper friezes (murals) and was one of the first companies to develop a washable, color wallpaper printed with oils that you cleaned with a damp cloth or sponge: San-kro-mura, the “sanitary” wall covering, one of the original sanitary wall coverings. These wall coverings were easy to clean with a damp cloth or sponge without their colors fading. Schmitz-Horning Co.’s aim, above even cleanliness, was to make “Art possible in the Home”.
Sankro-Mura sanitary wallcovering from the Schmitz-Horning Co.
Wallcoverings for children’s rooms featured the Wizard of Oz, nursery rhymes, and motifs with dolls. The Cooper Hewitt Museum owns 111 pieces from the Schmitz-Horning Co., two of which are from the time period shown in this catalog. The frieze Kindergarten Cut-outs, was in the 2007 exhibition “Wall Stories: Children’s Wallpapers and Books”.
Kindergarten Cut-Outs wall friezes, and the Wizard of Oz wall frieze.
This book is part of the Smithsonian Libraries’ Adopt-a-Book-Program which provides essential funding to support the conservation, acquisition, and digitization of books and manuscripts and can be adopted online. This Schmitz-Horning Co. wall decoration catalogue is one of the books available for adoption that needs support for preservation treatment, ensuring access to this book and other rare and fragile books for the future.
Kindergaretn Cut-Outs wallcovering frieze
Frieze – Kindergarten Cut-Outs, 1906; Manufactured by The Schmitz-Horning Co. ; USA; chromolithograph on paper; H x W x D: 50.2 x 78.1 cm (19 3/4 x 30 3/4 in.); Gift of Wallpaper Council, Inc.; 1960-163-36
Elizabeth Broman and Parsons Masters Program student Margaret Gaines
