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(23)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the whimsical world of Victorian satire with *The Great Exhibition "Wot to Be"*, a wood engraving by George Augustus Sala, published in 1850 under the banner of the fictitious "Committee of the Society for Keeping Things Their Places." This cheeky print, measuring just 5 1/16 x 9 5/16 inches, captures pre-event buzz—and skepticism—surrounding London's Great Exhibition of 1851 the world's first industrial fair held in the iconic Crystal Palace. The exaggerated title promises a peek at "probable results" of global industry, humorously depicting what will be shown, by whom, and how 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