The Sesquicentennial/International Exposition Philadelphia
Artist
Dan Smith
Date1926
Dimensions26 1/2 x 16 1/4 in. (67.3 x 41.3 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.27
DescriptionDan Smith was commissioned to illustrate several posters for the 1926 Sesquincentennial Exposition in Philadelphia, a world’s fair intended to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He also produced a painting that served as the cover design of the guide to the event incorporating the slogan “America Welcomes the World”; like his illustrations for the posters, it was printed by Elliott Brewer of Philadephia. This particular image shows the figure of Columbia, the female personification of the United States, in her characteristic Roman-style dress and wearing both the laurel crown and Phrygian Cap or liberty cap as she holds the national flag. She stands in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia with the Liberty Bell at her feet. (This variant was printed before the addition of the printer’s name and the phrase “The Voice of the Liberty Bell” below the image.) The exposition included five large exhibition halls, a stadium, a vast auditorium, a Forum of the Founders, Treasure Island (a children’s amusement park), and a recreation of colonial Philadelphia’s High Street as well as an eighty-foot-high replica of the Liberty Bell emblazoned with twenty-six thousand lightbulbs. But while the first Philadelphia World’s Fair in 1876 had been hugely successful, the 1926 version was not well attended and ultimately went into significant debt. On View
Not on view
