World's Fair of 1873

In 1873, it was Vienna’s turn to host the fifth great World’s Fair. Emperor Franz-Joseph I prepares it as soon as he returns from the Parisian World’s Fair of 1867 , to mark its twenty-five years of reign, and to show the face of a cosmopolitan Austria-Hungary, open to international trade. His Exhibition far surpasses the others in area, with 233 hectares against the 44 of 1867.

The Baron Karl von Hasenauer builds the palace of Industry, with a central Rotunda gathering machines, industrial products and works of art. In the park, the national pavilions compete with beauty and originality, and at this World’s Fair, many pavilions are also dedicated to the popular cultures, farms and fishing houses of the world. Another novelty is a Pavilion of Foreign Princes, designed for visiting sovereigns to rest.

The palace built by Khedive Ismail Pasha, for the pavilion of Egypt, is certainly the most admired of the Exhibition, making the most beautiful dreams of the Orient come true. If the palace is hailed as the most beautiful monument, the Chinese Tea Pavilion is perhaps the most original, with its leaning walls. The United States has installed an Indian wigwam, where gin and other spirits are served, and the Brazil pavilion displays rich minerals and rare woods.

Not far from the egyptian palace is the Japanese pavilion: a Japanese garden, where a small bamboo bridge crosses a miniature river, a pavilion "where the strange mingles with the fantastic". The garden is decorated with bronzes, earthenware, stone lanterns as well as a temple, and above all, a grandiose reproduction of the Buddha of Kamakura, more than 15 meters high. Thus, the encounter with this great civilization is prolonged, and the visitors are not at the end of their surprises: “the flora folds to the most whimsical caprices, and the public hastens every day to admire these dwarf trees, which are always a subject of astonishment, as well as the Japanese house with its paper hangings, paper blinds and carpets, still in paper.”

France wins 247 medals, making it the third most rewarded country. It is mainly in the arts that the country stands out, with many rewarded painters and sculptors, including Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse for Hebe Sleeping, and Eugene Delaplanche for Eve After the Sin, but also Carpeaux, Falguière, Perraud, etc.
In the decorative arts, bronzes and artworks are particularly appreciated: Barbedienne , Christofle and Durenne win a Prix d'Honneur, as well as Boucheron, Monduit and Thiébault. It is then in the earthenware and glassware that France is distinguished by other honors, with the ceramics of Sèvres, the mirrors of Saint-Gobain, and the fine work of Theodore Deck, that are some of the first examples of Japanism . Other artists are still distinguished by medals: Mazaroz, Diehl, Sormani and Fourdinois .

Poster of the Vienna World’s Fair, 1873.

Michael Frankenstein, Main Portal of the World’s Fair, August 16th, 1873, Herausgeber Technisches Museum, Vienna.

Chinese Tea House, engraving from the Journal illustré de l’Exposition, 1873.

Josef Löwy, Northen American Wigwam at the Exhibition, 1873.

Eugène Delaplanche, Eve After the Sin, 1869, presented at the 1873 World’s Fair, Orsay Museum, Paris.

O-Daiko Drum in cloisonné enamel, crafted for the 1873 World’s Fair, attributed to Kodenji Hayashi, Metropolitan Museum, New-York.

Copy of the Great Buddha of Kamakura at the 1873 World’s Fair, engraving from the Journal illustré de l’Exposition, 1873.

Henry-Auguste Fourdinois, Neo-Renaissance style Album, Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New-York.

German exhibition, engraving from the Journal illustré de l’Exposition, 1873.

Josef Löwy, Persian Pavilion, August 16th, 1873, Herausgeber Technisches Museum, Vienna.

Charles-Guillaume Diehl, Chest in blackened peerwood, medal of the 1873 Exhibition, Orsay Museum, Paris.

Gustav Jägermayer, Building of the Swiss Confectionery, 1873, Herausgeber Technisches Museum, Vienna.

Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, Hebe Sleeping, Orsay Museum, Paris.

Firescreen by Bellenger-Fasbender, engraving from the Journal illustré de l’Exposition, 1873.

Exhibition of Christofle et Cie, engraving from the Journal illustré de l’Exposition, 1873.

Ceramics by Theodore Deck, engraving from the Journal illustré de l’Exposition, 1873.

Ceramics by Collinot, engraving from the Journal illustré de l’Exposition, 1873.

Eugene Piat and Marchand House, Monumental couch with a planter and a fountain, from the 1873 World’s Fair, illustrated in Sauvageot, L’art pour tous, 1873.