Wallpaper had a construction purpose one upon a time. Now it is purely decoration. So as art it needs to evolve. I have modern furniture in a modern house. Show me something that isnt 19th or even 20th century.
Online stores mostly. I found a nice collection on Amazon a year ago, but it is a premium category of products.
I think the big box home decoration stores tend to carry mostly whatever is in vogue at the moment and will sell to the masses; like faux brickwork or baroque elements without any sense of proportion or sensible colours. This you might find clichéd or gaudy — I do. And of course the inevitable white and beige in a variety of embossings and patterns.
> Show me something that isnt 19th or even 20th century.
The problem to me seems more that most wallpaper is distinctly 21st century. It is trendy and it gradually changes every season. It is literally designed to look current and up-to-date right now, which by necessity implies that it will look dated in a year or two. The idea is that you redo your walls every five years or so.
Also, don't necessarily think about wallpaper as something merely covering the walls - think of it as a decoration, in the same vein you might hang art. As you mention, it doesn't have a structural purpose. One way I've seen used to great effect is to paper only a single wall in a room, with a very bold wallpaper - eg behind the dining table in a large/long kitchen. It helps to "break up" the room in two sections.
When was wallpaper ever anything other than purely decorative?
Modern houses are much more ridged, mostly because they are more watertight. Our wall finishes, paints overtop of plasterboard/drywall, are also more flexible. The 'wallpaper' layer is now part of the plasterboard.
shudders
Buy / borrow / rent a steamer!
The paper in modern gypsum board is not there to prevent “cracks”, either. Without the paper, gypsum board has essentially no strength and couldn’t even be hung. The paper replaces the “brown coat” of traditional plaster by adding fiber for strength.
The house I'm renting is one such house, and I've had the same situation in other houses. It was built in the 40's or 50's and over the past half-century, the house has sagged and stretched. Because of this, there are long cracks running across several walls.
If there was wallpaper on the walls, it would move with the house to an extent, and the cracks in the plaster behind it wouldn't be visible.
Not shilling but seriously considering it for my next place.