Joseph Dufour et Cie

Joseph Dufour et Cie, founded 1797 by Joseph and Pierre Dufour, was a French Manufacture de Papier Peints et Tissus (French for: painted wallpaper and fabrics) manufacturer located in Mâcon, France.

In 1806, in collaboration with the artist Jean-Gabriel Charvet, Dufour et Cie produced a twenty-panel set of scenic wallpaper entitled Sauvages de la Mer du Pacifique (Savages of the Pacific), which became the biggest success of the company. It was the largest panoramic wallpaper of its time, and marked the burgeoning of a French industry in panoramic wallpapers. Dufour realized almost immediate success from the sale of these papers and enjoyed a lively trade with America. The Neoclassic spirit currently in favor was accented handsomely in houses of the Federal period by the exaggerated elegance of Charvet's scenes. Like most of eighteenth century wallpapers, the panorama was designed to be hung above a dado.

For many years it was believed that Joseph Dufour was born in 1752. An error in his place of birth was the source of the mistake. Indeed, another Joseph Dufour was born in Mâcon, in 1752, whilst the founder of the maunufacture was born in Tramayes in 1757 as the second child of Claude Dufour and Francoise Braillon.

Joseph Dufour trained in the wallpaper industry and worked in Lyon, which was a center for both the textile and wallpaper industries. In 1797, Joseph Dufour started the company together with his brother Pierre in Macon, Rue de la Paroisse. The designer Jean-Gabriel Charvet, renowned in Lyon, worked for them. Their first few years were not very successful; in 1800 they went into liquidation and Pierre left the company. By 1801, the business was operating under the name Joseph Dufour et Cie.

Then the company picked up rapidly. in 1805 the company employed more than 90 workers. Following the Savages' success at the Fourth Exhibition of Products of the French Industry in 1806, Joseph Dufour moved to Paris in the Faubourg Saint Antoine. His company rapidly became famous in Europe and America not only for its panoramics but also for its repeating wallpaper. The company employed the talent of famous designers such as Xavier Mader and Evarist Fragonard. Joseph Dufour died in Paris 1827. His son-in-law took on the business but sold it a few years later. The wood-blocks were scattered.

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