A manual on the origin and development of Washington

by H. Paul Caemmerer

VIEW OF THE MALL ABOUT 1890

Chapter XII
THE INFLUENCE OF THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION AND OF THE WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION ON ART IN THE UNITED STATES

The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 at Philadelphia marked a century of progress. It aroused the country to its opportunities, after a period of lethargy and unrest that followed the Civil War. A decade had elapsed since the end of that terrible conflict, and a new day dawned. President Grant gave the people confidence that he would guide the affairs of the Nation safely as their Chief Executive. Industries were established, commerce and trade developed, and prosperity followed. The Philadelphia Centennial of 1876 brought a sense of the power of the United States in material resources, coupled with an admission of poverty in the things of the spirit, and a determination to remedy shortcomings in this respect. The people then turned their attention to the finer things of life and became interested in erecting monuments and establishing art galleries. Thus, the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D. C., the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts were chartered about the time of the centennial celebration.

Again, in 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, had a great effect on art in the United States. It stirred the whole world by the production of beautiful and impressive groups of buildings, so arranged and coordinated as to create the sense of unity in the whole composition. The White City along the shores of Lake Michigan still lives in the minds of many people to-day. The use of landscape effects, of canals and basins, of statuary and paintings, all contributed to impress the public and to lift people to new standards and ideals of achievement. It marked the beginning of a new era of civic development. In Chicago, for the first time, men saw the advantage of teamwork to produce a result finer than anything before dreamed of. A number of the great artists in the United States to-day served their apprenticeship during the preparation of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago. Several of the artists served on the decorations of the Congressional Library, which was completed in 1897. A considerable number of the beautiful creations in architecture and sculpture in Washington during the past 35 years by great artists reflect the experience and inspiration received during that period.

WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, CHICAGO—COURT OF HONOR, LOOKING EAST

WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, CHICAGO—COURT OF HONOR, LOOKING WEST

A most remarkable result of the aesthetic achievements of the World’s Columbian Exposition was the influence it had on the architecture of several national expositions which were held at the close of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. The first of these expositions was the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, which was held at Omaha, Nebr., 1897-1898. Several classical buildings were erected for it, as were erected also for the Pan-American Exposition, held at Buffalo, N. Y., in 1901, to emphasize the progress of Americans of the western continents during the nineteenth century. Then followed the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which ranks as the third great World’s Fair held in this country in 1904, in celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the transfer of the Louisiana Territory by France to the United States, during the administration of President Jefferson. It is significant that as Thomas Jefferson had introduced the classical style of architecture into this country, so at this Exposition most of the 15 largest buildings resembled in character the classical buildings of the Chicago World’s Fair. The next exposition in which architecture had an important part was the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition, held at Seattle, Wash., in 1909. Again the classical style of architecture was emphasized, and, as at the Chicago Exposition, the buildings had an ivory-white appearance. It was stated at the time:

The influences of an Exposition are of course many, but one of the most palpable influences of our American expositions has been their power to stimulate a powerful interest in architecture and building.