The Great Exhibition Innovation and Changes

To what extent did the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London affect the future of England?

 

Introduction

The world’s first Great Exhibition was held in 1851 in London, United Kingdom; it opened its doors on May 1^st, 1851 to the world, and later closed on October 11^th, 1851. The best-known first expo went by many names: ‘The World’s Fair,’ The First World Expo’, ‘The Great Exposition of 1851’, and ‘Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations’. The World’s Fair concept stemmed from the French, specifically, the French Industrial Exposition of 1844; Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, envisioned the Great Exhibition and was key in its creation. At this time in history, many countries had held national expositions but never any to this extent.

The Great Exhibition influenced various aspects of England post-exposition: art and design education, international trade and relations, and tourism. The fair not only brought cooperation but also ideas, thoughts, new inventions, breakthroughs, and ways for the start and growth of industrialization were introduced in a way never seen before. This fair was a turning point for England. Before the fair, exhibits were displayed throughout continental Europe including the English Isle; The World’s Fair brought a new way for people to interact and see the way others were doing things by creating an exposition in which anyone could participate. It was a breakthrough that was not foreseen.

The Society of Art hosted annual exhibits from 1841. The idea for an international exhibit was later approached. By this time, the idea of having a fair that would reach many countries internationally already existed, it was later made possible and executed by Prince Albert. Later, when Albert and the committee met, they agreed on a number of goals they wanted to reach for this fair; there would be four divisions for the exhibits including  raw materials, machinery, manufactured products, and sculpture and art, it would be held in a temporary building in Hyde Park that was to be built specifically for the exhibition, the scope of the exposition would be international, prizes would be offered, the Royal Commission – Prince Albert as head- would carry out the plans, and that the Royal Society of Arts was responsible for  raising the funds.

Each country represented, out of the 25 countries and 15 British colonies represented, brought new things to the table; especially England who made elaborate efforts and changes just to host the fair, changes which, in fact are still influencing people today. One of England’s greatest efforts in hosting the fair was not just hosting the fair itself, but the construction of the Glass Palace. Built from 1850 to 1851, the Glass Palace covered 18.8 acres of the 26 acre lot in Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom. Though the idea of the temporary building that would host the fair originated with Prince Albert and the Royal Commission, Joseph Paxton, who was in fact a gardener not an architect, designed the glass and iron creation that would house the 1851 World’s fair.

The architecture and art of England was one aspect greatly affected by England being the host country to the first exhibition. The Crystal Palace, the glass and iron creation by Joseph Paxton which housed the exhibition, had citizens of thirty-two countries, over six million people, and over fifteen-thousand contributors pass through the doors of the brand new structure. From porcelain vases to fire-engines, over one-hundred thousand objects were displayed over a distance of almost ten miles (Picard).

Although originally envisioned as a temporary structure, the Crystal Palace survived the Great Exhibition and stood until it was destroyed by a fire on November 30, 1936. While it was standing and well after, the palace had a large influence on the art-and-design education of those in England.  Due to the fact that this building was the largest creation containing the greatest amount of glass at that time, it had opened doors to new architectural and design ideas that now become possible due to the cast plate glass method created by Paxton. This building was a model for future success. The palace embodied the possibilities of the future in more ways than one. The new architectural ideas that Paxton introduced   had contributed to some of the outcomes of the fair by the time the fair came to a close.  The Crystal Palace was viewed as a great wonder of the modern world. The palace had created a new view of England through other countries eyes that would be long lasting and remembered.

There were 13,937 exhibitors with over one million different exhibits. Out of those, 6,861 of them were from England, which does not include the British colonies. Each nation brought artifacts and pieces never seen before to the global stage. Priceless piece of art and new ideas were in display and being studied and viewed by millions of people throughout the months of the fair. New techniques and ideas introduced at the fair would later have a great impact on art. For example, new painting techniques were introduced from the other countries and would be seen in artwork that would be made post-fair and be a significant part of art growth in the future. The Education provided in England would soon grow incorporating aspects of the fair.

There were four divisions of exhibits with one being fine arts. It contained all of the different artifacts including: paintings, sculptures, textiles, and jewelry. By way of illustrating, the 186-carat gem that sits in the Imperial Crown was gifted to Queen Victoria during the fair, and still sits in England today. Many considered the Great Exhibition to be the symbol of the Victorian Age due to the steel engraving exhibits, which were considered a large source of High Victorian Design. Later, after the fair’s conclusion, a memorial was created to remember the fair by means of a statue of Prince Albert which contains the details of the fair including the number of visitors that attended.

The opening of the Great Exhibition just happened to coincide with new railway lines that had begun to cover the country. Miles upon miles of new railways were built and placed around England thus providing fast, easy transportation that would create easy access to London and the Great Exhibition. These railways were requisite to providing the people from or in England a way to access the exhibition. Before the railway, it would have been nearly impossible to have the level of international and local attendance the fair enjoyed. The improved transit system provided a way for the British to avoid driving drive hours and hours and allowed them to  simply pay less and spend less time in transit as well as saved space in England for the local and international travelers.

These railways were also used to move parts of the exhibits into London. All around the country people were traveling and exhibits were coming in and the trains were able to provide safe and easy passage for the other countries to get their exhibits from one place to another. The amount of money that the people spent on train transit was also extremely helpful and beneficial to the British economy as train fairs went directly to the government instead of to private companies as would have been the case with other forms of transportation.

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The World’s Fair of 1851 was viewed as the first true international spectacle. International communication and cooperation were greatly impacted in the years following 1851 because of the fair. Twenty-five different countries attend having never been in this type of situation before; these twenty-five different countries were in the same place, at the same time, for the same reasons, for the same event. The communication needed from England to be able to get these countries in attendance was made with great effort and time. This brought forth new relationships among countries that wouldn’t have normally interacted at a level this closely.

The contact created by the nations, colonies, and people present at the fair largely had a positive result on trade and relations abroad. Because of the countries exhibits, trade would greatly increase because people were now aware of what other countries could bring to the table. People and countries, as an entirety, could now see what they didn’t have and what they wanted due to the exhibits that were displayed throughout the lengths of the fair. Each country could view another in a creative and equally beneficial way; both would now gain knowledge they wouldn’t have necessarily accumulated without the extensive variety items they now had at hand during the fair.

The fair was also a way for a nation to provide a strong image and advertise itself to the others. The nations wanted to show a strong reachable future was available to them through their exhibits. What they displayed ultimately showed the world who they were and what that nation had to offer compared to all the others including those that were not present. The exhibit was utilized greatly as a scale; comparing country to country, achievement to achievement, idea to idea. The participating countries could size up the competition.

After the Great Exposition was held, it was precedent for many other international exhibitions to be held that would, now more commonly, be known as world’s fair. The fairs origin was at the 1851 Great Exhibition, which has led to decades of fairs to follow which are still continued at the present time. The World’s fairs were originally created to display a nation’s accomplishments as well as future achievements which are still aim as well as introducing new technology.

When everyone walked through the doors of the Crystal Palace, they felt as though time changed. Everyone, who wouldn’t necessarily travel there, could now see other countries up close and experience them. Twenty different countries participated offering twenty-five different sources of knowledge for the other countries participating. The English, at the start of the fair, was coming from a period of transition involving industrialization. The country was growing and working to be a Central Power

Her Majesty, Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, felt that the exhibition was one of the most beautiful and important events they would ever see. They both felt it would bring on great change and transition.

Many names we have come to know today because of their great achievement that have lingered throughout their lifetime and ours were actually present at the fair including: Charles Darwin, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Lewis Carroll, and Alfred Tennyson as well as Queen Victoria and her kin. From poets to world recognized scientists, everyone wanted to attend this global spectacle.

Works Cited (Rough)

“ExpoMuseum / The 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, London, United Kingdom.” ExpoMuseum / The 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, London, United Kingdom. Urso Chappell, n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

Picard, Liza. “The Great Exhibition.” The British Library. The British Library, 13 Mar. 2014. Web. 5 Feb. 2017

J. Mordaunt Crook. The Dilemma of Style: Architectural Ideas from the Picturesque to the Post-Modern. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987

Yau, Wilson. “The Crystal Palace.” The Crystal Palace. British Architectural Library, 2014. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

“LONDON, ENGLAND 1851 The Great Exhibition of the Arts & Industries of All Nations. “The Great Exhibition of the Industries of All Nations. London 1851. The First World’s Fair. JDP ECON, n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

“The Great Exhibition Collection.” Victoria and Albert Museum, Online Museum, Web Team, . Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2RL. Telephone +44 (0)20 7942 2000. Email , 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

“Dickinson’s Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851.” The British Library. The British Library, 26 June 2014. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

Ffrench, Yvonne. The Great Exhibition: 1851. London: Harvill, 1950. Print.

Edge, Simon. “The Crown Jewels: The Queen’s Cursed Diamond.” Express.co.uk. Express, 29 July 2010. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

“Royal Commission for the Exhibition 1851.” Royalcommission1851. Royal Commission, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.