Exhibitions and Expositions

I

Introduction

Exhibitions and Expositions, public displays of industrial or commercial products or of fine arts. Although the terms are used interchangeably, in strict usage an exhibition is a display of such products or arts for a short period; an exposition is for a longer period and usually on a larger scale. Both exhibitions and expositions may be regional, national, or international, and may show only the products of a single industry, such as furniture or leather, or all products of human endeavor.

II

Early History

Such displays have their origin in the large commercial fairs (see Fair) once common in Europe, to which every kind of merchandise was brought to be sold. It was discovered that exhibitions stimulated sales, and arrangements were ultimately made to exhibit merchandise not for immediate sale but for purposes of advertising and promotion. The first such exhibition was held in 1756-1757 in England by the Society of Arts, which exhibited all the entries and awarded prizes for the best English manufactured products. In 1798 an exhibition of every variety of French manufacture was held in Paris and was so successful that another was held later in the same year. After a third exhibition inaugurated by Napoleon in 1802, similar affairs began to be held triennially.

In the U.S. the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, founded in 1824, held exhibitions of scientific developments from time to time. The American Institute of New York, founded in 1828, held annual exhibitions at which inventors and manufacturers were invited to display new products. In Britain exhibitions began to be periodic events in the cities of Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester. In Ireland the Royal Dublin Society instituted triennial exhibitions in Dublin in 1829; at first only native products were shown, but foreign products were eventually included in the exhibits. The importance of such local exhibitions declined, however, as museums and libraries began to organize special showings of both manufactured products and fine arts.

III

Major Types of Exhibitions

Beginning with the latter half of the 19th century, three types of exhibitions and expositions became prominent.

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The first was the industrial exhibition, devoted to the stimulation and progress of a specific industry or to all the industries of a specified country or area. Representative of this type were the exhibition of leather products, held in Berlin (1877); of printing, in New York City (1900); of products of the British Empire, in Wembley, England (1924); of modern decorative and industrial arts, in Paris (1925); and of housing, also in Paris (1947).

A second type of exhibition, particularly popular in the U.S., was regional and was dedicated to the commemoration of a historical event. Notable among this type were the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, Nashville, Tennessee (1897); the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, Omaha, Nebraska (1898); the Lewis and Clark Centennial American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, Portland, Oreg. (1905); the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition, Norfolk, Virginia (1907); and the Great Lakes Exposition, Cleveland, Ohio (1936).

The third type, the universal exposition, was international in scope; it was sponsored by a national government and displayed a wide variety of products. The first great international exposition was held in London in 1851 under the direction of the Society of Arts; Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, was at the time president of the society and took a personal interest in the preparation of the event. The Crystal Palace was built for the occasion, and the total cost amounted to about $1.5 million. The great success of the Great Exhibition of 1851 led to other international expositions. Dublin and New York City both held expositions in 1853, and in 1855 Paris held its first Exposition Universelle, on the Champs-Élysées.

The Paris exposition, although it was much more elaborate than any of its predecessors, costing about $5 million and including almost 21,000 exhibits, was a financial failure. In 1862 another great exposition was opened in London, at a cost of about $2.3 million. Although some 29,000 exhibitors participated and more than 6 million people attended, it was much less successful financially than the 1851 exposition, chiefly because Prince Albert died before the exposition opened and the festivities were consequently affected. Most great expositions operated at deficits from that time on, but the promotion value of the displays and the value of the tourist trade brought by the events were considered worth the loss, which was usually made up by national and municipal government subsidies or by bond issues.

In 1867 the French government and the city of Paris, at a cost of almost $6 million, sponsored another international exposition, which took place on the Champ de Mars, the military parade ground on the left bank of the Seine River; about 43,000 exhibits were shown, and more than 6.8 million visitors attended. Vienna in 1873 held an international exposition that was the greatest up to that time, costing about $11 million. The buildings erected in the Prater, the famous Viennese park on an island in the Danube, housed almost 26,000 exhibits, and more than 6.5 million admissions were counted. Three years later the first great American international exposition was held in Philadelphia, as a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The buildings of the Paris exposition of 1878 were erected in the Champ de Mars and extended to an elevated plateau called the Trocadéro, on the right bank of the Seine; the Palais de Trocadéro, built for the occasion, remained a permanent structure until it was torn down in 1936. Built at a cost in excess of $6 million, the 1878 exposition housed almost 53,000 exhibits and attracted more than 16 million visitors. In 1889 a fourth Exposition Universelle was held in Paris, the theme being the centenary of the French Revolution. The cost of the exposition was about $9 million; exhibitors numbered almost 62,000 and visitors more than 32 million.

The 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America was celebrated by an international exposition held in Chicago in 1893. The buildings of the World's Columbian Exposition, as it was called, were erected on the shore of Lake Michigan. Some of the most famous features of the Chicago exposition were its amusements, which were collected together on a strip of land known as the Midway Plaisance; the term midway later became synonymous with “amusement area” in circuses, carnivals, and fairs. The World's Columbian Exposition cost more than $31 million, presented more than 65,000 exhibits, and attracted more than 27.5 million visitors.

A fifth great French exposition took place in Paris in 1900. Some of the structures built for the 1900 exposition became famous landmarks of the city, including the ornate Alexander III Bridge over the Seine. The catalog listed almost 80,000 exhibits, and about 40 million admissions were counted. The 1900 exposition was so successful that receipts nearly equaled the expenses of almost $24 million.

IV

Famous 20th-Century Expositions

During the 20th century international exhibitions, popularly called world's fairs, have become elaborate showcases for technological and cultural developments as well as manufactured products. Usually well subscribed by exhibitors and showing visitor attendance into the millions, such exhibitions often have had an important social and economic impact on the country or vicinity in which they are held. In 1923 the International Bureau of Expositions was established in Paris to control the frequency and supervise the operations of international exhibitions. About 70 member nations, not including the U.S., have voluntarily agreed to abide by the decisions of the bureau.

Attendance at international exhibitions still continues to spiral because the fairs offer unique coverage of the present day and fascinating glimpses into the future. Following are some of the most important fairs of the 20th century.