The Great Exhibition "Wot is to Be", Probable Results of The Industry of All Nations in The Year '51, Showing What is to be Exhibited, Who is To Exhibit, in Short How Its All Going to Be Done
Medium
Wood engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 5 1/16 x 9 5/16 in. (12.8 x 23.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1963
Accession Number
63.698.6(13)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1850 by George Augustus Sala in collaboration with the satirical “Committee of the Society for Keeping Things in Their Places,” this lively wood engraving offers a humorous preview of London’s forthcoming Great Exhibition of 1851. The lengthy title to reveal “what is to be exhibited” and “how it’s all going to be done,” reflecting the mixture of excitement and skepticism that greeted Prince Albert’s plan to showcase the industry of all nations inside the Crystal Palace. Sala, a noted Victorian journalist and illustrator, uses the crisp lines of wood engraving—a medium prized for it...
About the Artist
George Augustus Sala|Committee of the Society for Keeping Things in Their Places (British|British) · 1828 |1840 –1895 |1860
British, London 1828–1895 Hove|London