Details
The image
A celebration of industry laid out as a composition: a central structure, figures in motion, lettering above and below in the manner of a fairground announcement. The palette is warm and the drawing is detailed enough to reward a second look from close range.
Where it comes from
World fairs were the place where countries presented their products, their colonies and their idea of the future, all in one park, and their posters had to work at the scale of a boulevard. The Paris exhibitions of the period produced some of the most confident graphic work of their era: optimistic, decorative, and built to be seen by millions in a few weeks.
On the wall
It works in rooms that can take colour and detail: a kitchen, a hallway, a study with warm furniture. Because the composition is dense, it needs a plain wall around it. In a large room it reads as an event; in a small one it becomes a window onto a crowd.
In company
Pairs well with other exhibition and travel posters and with vintage furniture. In a group it should be the busiest piece. A warm wood frame suits the period; a black one would make it look like a document. Printing of this period is what the Vintage collection is made of.
