🔥RARE Fine Antique Old American Folk Art 1904 ST LOUIS WORLDS FAIR Oil Painting

Description: This is an exceptional and historic RARE Fine Antique Old American Folk Art 1904 ST LOUIS WORLDS FAIR Oil Painting on Canvas This piece likely depicts a bird's-eye view on the Grand Basin of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, perhaps the most spectacular and elaborate of all the World's Fairs to be held in the United States. Tall, Romanesque pillars and archways can be seen along the edges of the painting, while small steamboats are visible floating along the calm waters, and picking up passengers in the foreground, one of which proudly bears the American flag. Along the edges, droves of finely dressed spectators watch the ongoing spectacles. There are some historical inconsistencies between some of the scenes in this painting, and the actual Grand Basin at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, such as the types of boats depicted, but I believe that this was likely some artistic license taken by the artist. I am not an expert on the event, and cannot say for certain, it is just my opinion. Signed: "V. V." at the lower edge. I could not identify the author of this piece, but perhaps you know more about them or their work? Approximately 15 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches (including frame.) Actual artwork is approximately 12 x 16 inches. Very good condition for well over a century of age and storage, with a few small pinhole tears, scratches, and scuffs to the painted surface. Additionally, the original antique frame has moderate - heavy edge wear, scuffing, and material loss (please see photos.) Acquired in Los Angeles County, California, but I suspect that this artwork originates from the Southern United States. Priced to Sell. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About this Artwork: 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair In 1904 the Louisiana Purchase Exposition transformed St. Louis into a visual encyclopedia. Also known as the St. Louis World’s Fair, this seven-month spectacle drew at least 19 million visitors to the city and thousands of objects from around the world. Similar to previous international expositions, the intentions of the fair’s organizers were to promote their city on a global stage and celebrate American modernity through objects that demonstrated technological, commercial, scientific, and aesthetic innovation. One defining feature set this exposition apart from its predecessors: no previous world’s fair had brought together so many people from so many different cultures and countries. These two aspects jointly shaped the fair’s selection of works of art and their contexts for display across its grounds.Larger than any prior international exposition, the fair covered 1,200 acres of the western corner of Forest Park with 1,500 buildings constructed mostly from staff, an impermanent material made from plaster and fiber. Only two buildings were intended to outlast the fair: the Flight Cage (now part of the St. Louis Zoo) and the Palace of Fine Arts (now the Saint Louis Art Museum). When Halsey Cooley Ives, the director of the St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts, was appointed to lead the fair’s art department, he advocated for the exposition to build a permanent structure that would become a new home for the Museum. Ives oversaw the organization of approximately 11,000 works of art by nearly 1,500 professional artists from 26 countries for the exhibition.The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair both reinforced and dismantled cultural and artistic hierarchies in its displays. Colonializing ideologies underpinned how diverse cultures were exhibited. For example, the Philippine reservation, the fair’s largest section, was designed to introduce Americans to the Philippines, acquired as a colony by the United States in 1898 after the Spanish–American War. Far from a celebration of Filipino cultures, the reservation attempted to present Filipino peoples as “uncivilized” to justify the extraction of profits from their islands’ rich natural resources by the United States.Yet some fair displays dismantled established hierarchies of artistic media and challenged Eurocentric cultural prejudices. For the first time, a world’s fair included the decorative arts and Native American arts in its official fine arts display. Halsey Cooley Ives believed that “all artwork in which the artist-producer has worked with conviction and knowledge is recognized as equally deserving of respect.”

Price: 1350 USD

Location: Orange, California

End Time: 2025-01-13T02:57:07.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD

Product Images

Item Specifics

All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted

Artist: V. V.

Signed By: V. V.

Size: Medium

Signed: Yes

Period: Art Nouveau (1880-1920)

Material: Canvas, Oil

Region of Origin: California, USA

Framing: Framed

Subject: Boys, Children & Infants, Cityscapes, Community Life, Concerts, Family, Figures, Ladies, Landscape, Men, Monument, National Parks, Seafaring, Seascape, Seaside, Ships, Silhouettes, States & Counties, Tourism, USA, Women, Working Life, World's Fair

Type: Painting

Year of Production: 1904

Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original

Item Height: 19 3/4 in

Style: Americana, Folk Art, Social Realism, Regionalism

Theme: Americana, Amusement Parks, Architecture, Art, Cities & Towns, Continents & Countries, Cultures & Ethnicities, Domestic & Family Life, Events & Festivals, Exhibitions, Famous Places, History, Hobbies & Leisure, Nautical, Patriotic, People, Politics, Social History, Sports, Travel & Transportation

Features: One of a Kind (OOAK)

Production Technique: Oil Painting

Country/Region of Manufacture: United States

Item Width: 15 3/4 in

Handmade: Yes

Time Period Produced: 1900-1924