The Day of the Dead is celebrated in the publication, Gran Baile de Calaveras, un Libro Túnel [The Dancing Skeletons Tunnel Book], by Joan Sommers, a work in the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Library. The book is a concertina-like folding form, composed of five separate scenes, each on a different panel. When viewed through the...

Perfect for the Halloween season is this wallpaper aptly titled “Skeletons”. The pattern is composed of skeletons each assuming a different wacky pose. There are nine different poses in total, forming a neat grid, but the designer’s skill in placing the motifs creates a nice overall flow which appears to contain an unlimited variety of...

This novel paper, cheekily denoted as a ‘closet paper’ by its designer, William Justema, was produced in the 1940s for innovative New York wallpaper merchants Katzenbach & Warren. On these pages from a 1948 sample book, bleached bones are printed on a foggy bluish gray ground. The skeletons appear to be having a grand old...