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A San Francisco Rarity

Rare separately published view of the California Midwinter Exposition, from original artwork by Charles Graham and printed by the Winters Art Litho Company of Chicago.

At the top is an exceptional color image of the fairgrounds, with the bay and mountains on the horizon.  Directly below is a smaller view of the fairgrounds with the Golden Gate (no bridge) and Pacific Ocean on the horizon. 

At the sides are two smaller images:

• Key Monument and Music Stand, Golden Gate Park
• Cliff House and Seal Rock, 

 The view was created by Charles Graham, who had been the official artist for the famed Columbian Exposition in Chicago the previous year.

California Midwinter International Exposition

The California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, was a World's Fair which took place in January to July 1894 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

In 1892, U.S. President Benjamin Harrison appointed Michael H. de Young as a national commissioner to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago. During the exposition in Chicago, de Young recognized an opportunity to stimulate California's economy in its time of depression. In the summer of 1893, de Young announced his plans for the California Midwinter International Exposition to be held in Golden Gate Park.  Golden Gate Park Superintendent John McLaren fought against holding the exposition in the park claiming, "the damage to the natural setting would take decades to reverse." 

The fair encompassed 200 acres centered on the park's current Music Concourse. 120 structures were constructed for the exposition, and more than 2 million people visited.  The fair was to feature four major buildings. These buildings included the Fine Arts Building, the Agriculture and Horticulture Building, the Mechanical Arts Building, and the Manufacturers and Liberal Arts building. The Fine Arts building has become the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum (and has been rebuilt in a much different design). Other major attractions include the park's famed Japanese Tea Garden, Bonet's Tower, the amusement attractions, and the many cultural exhibits.

Rarity

The view is very rare.  OCLC locates 2 examples (Bancroft Library (Honeyman Collection), California Historical Society).