St. Louis World’s Fair, 1904

“Bigger than anything ever before!” That was the aim of the St. Louis World’s Fair, where the USA showed off the enormous progress it had made in the previous years: agricultural and industrial machinery, the giants of the engineering, electrical and iron and steel industries, and the latest forms of transport that afforded greater comfort and speed than ever before. Two other nations brought exhibitions that stood out against all else: Germany and Japan. Both entered the contest at great expense, in full pomp and seriousness. The St. Louis exhibition took up part of Forest Park. Its centre, Festival Hall, crowned the top of a high ill, and along a ridge to right and left, colonnades connected the hall with the pavilions at the bottom. The huge Cascade flowed from the centre of Festival Hall and came to rest in the lagoons, where the public could appreciate the sight from gondolas, particularly in the spectacular kaleidoscope of light in the evening. Opposite Festival Hall was the Plaza St. Louis, the exhibition’s central square. On two sides of the square stood the Varied Industries Building and the Manufactures Building, and opposite them, on the other side of the lagoons, were the Electricity Hall and the Education and Social Economy Hall. Beyond the Manufactures Building was the Place of Orleans, and on its far side, the Liberal Arts Building, with the Mines and Metallurgy buildings opposite. On the other side of the Varied Industries Building was the Plaza of St. Anthony and the end of the lagoons, and lying opposite were the two giant buildings of Machinery and Transportation. Finally, the four Fine Arts buildings were positioned at the top of the hill behind Festival Hall. The Hungarian Applied Arts Association was given 600 square metres of floor area in the Manufactures Building. There, four Hungarian courtyard houses with towers were built to designs by Pál Horti. Their courtyard and rooms housed works of Hungarian applied arts. The outstanding exhibits were ceramics by Zsolnay, Fischer, Vögerl and Kossuch, fine metalware by Bachruch, stained glass by Miksa Róth, Halas lace by Árpád Dékáni, and masterpieces of wrought iron by Jungfer, Forreider and Schiller. Also on display were nacré velvet by Gizella Greguss Mirkovszkyné; leatherwork by Fischof, Tull and Belmonte; jewellery and ornaments by Tarján, Rapoport (Rapapport) and Wiesinger; exquisite etched glassware by Sovánka; embossed copper work by Steiner; and a carved church figure by Levisch. Adorning the facade was a fresco by Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch, with richly coloured Kalotaszeg figures that attracted great attention. Inside the building was a charming and artistic children’s room by Mariska Undi (Springholz) and a dining room by Simay. Hungary was assigned three halls in the Fine Arts Building, but since relatively few works of Hungarian fine art were brought to the exhibition, the head of the American art department, Halsey C. Ives, provided one of the Hungarian halls on the condition that applied arts objects were displayed there. Thus the finest ceramics by Zsolnay and Sovánka and works by Miklós Schmidt, Dékáni, Rapoport (Rapapport), Tarján Huber, Telcs, Damkó, Radnai  and György Vastagh Jr appeared in the Fine Arts Building. Two carpets by Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch were hung on the walls, and furniture by Toroczkai Wigand and Fischof were placed on the floor. The ornamental friezes of the hall were designed by Pál Horti.

Horti P. 'A St. louisi világkiállítás' in: Magyar Iparművészet 1904/6. szám, 249-313.

by Jessica Fehérvári