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Description

Impressive color-lithographed poster of the grounds of the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, by the poster artist "GTC".

The view overlooks the Seine, the Grand Palais, the exhibition buildings leading to Les Invalides, the Eiffel Tower, and the exhibition buildings constructed around it. Some of the more fantastical buildings constructed for the Exposition are shown, such as the Globe Céleste. At the top are vignettes of the pavilions of foreign countries, the palace of electricity and castle of water, the Grand Palais, and the Porte Monumentale.

In the foreground are world leaders, including William McKinley and monarchs, such as Queen Victoria, and her son (Edward VII, upon her death), Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary, Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra of Russia, and Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia. The titles of the figures are given in the border below them.

The combination of the extravagant Beaux-Arts architecture, rich color printing, and portraits of world leaders mingling happily together gives a sense of Europe before the fall - standing as a stark contrast to the animosity and destruction of World War I that followed a little over a decade later.

The monogram of the poster's artist "GTC" is in the lower-left corner. We have been unable to trace the artist's full name.

Rarity

The poster is evidently extremely rare, this being one of only two we could locate.

Condition Description
Abrasions and minor dampstaining. Printed on "clay stock" paper with some cracking and loss in the blank margins.