Showcasing Austrian Business: The 1893 Chicago World's Fair

The Representation of the Chicago World’s Fair in the Imperial Court Library Vienna and in Emperor Francis Joseph’s Private Library

By Hans Petschar

Chicago World’s Fair, 1893. Manufacture Building, presentation of the Austrian A. Förster company.
Photo: Austrian National Library

The spectacular World’s Fair was held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World. Chicago had bested New York City, Washington, DC, and St. Louis for holding the fair. Chicago constructed an entire neoclassical city that was brightly illuminated at night, giving the fairgrounds the name of the “white city” (as opposed to the “black” old city of Chicago).

It was the first time that the New World hosted a world’s fair. With 27.5 million visitors Chicago outpaced the Paris World’s Fair which attracted 6.5 million visitors. “The success of the Chicago World’s Fair put the United States on the map as the premier industrial power in the world.” Austria’s participation at the spectacular World’s Columbian Exhibition 1893 in Chicago was by no means guaranteed in the beginning. Neither the Austrian industries nor the Austrian government showed any particular interest in contributing to the exhibition when Austria received an official invitation from the American government and from the American exhibition committee. It was only thanks to the personal commitment of the Austrian consul in New York, Dr. Anton Palitschek von Palmforth that Austria finally took part in the World’s Fair in Chicago in a convincing show. Dr. Parlforth traveled several times to Vienna and Bohemia to convince the representatives of the business community and the government to participate. He succeeded, however, only in the Austrian half of the dual monarchy because he was not able to convince the Hungarian government to participate despite all efforts. Therefore, it was left to the Austrian government to propose Austria’s participation to the Austrian Parliament, the Reichsrat, and to decide on it.

In the end, a top-class exhibition committee was put together and Dr. Palmforth was appointed exhibition commissioner in Chicago. The exhibition was developed under the aegis of the Emperor’s younger brother Archduke Karl Ludwig, while the women’s section of the exhibition was created under the aegis of his wife, Archduchess Maria Theresa.

It is probably thanks to the prominent participation of the imperial family that the Chicago World’s Fair and the Austrian participation were honored in excellent publications and preserved in magnificent works in the Imperial Court Library in Vienna and in the private library of the Emperor.

In addition to exhibition catalogs and contemporary publications, a magnificent cassette with photographs of the World’s Fair is one of the most beautiful and valuable objects related to the Chicago World’s Fair. The fine leather case with photographs from the exhibition is in itself a wonderful piece of art, designed to celebrate Austria-Hungary’s participation at the World’s Fair 1893. It was donated to Emperor Francis Joseph and became part of the treasures of his Private Library, which was incorporated into the newly founded National Library in 1923, after the collapse of the Austria-Hungarian Empire.

The case is fabricated in champagne-colored fine leather with metal feet and metal fittings. It contains forty-one photographs and the “Special Catalogue of the Austrian Exhibitors.” The case is itself a fine example of the high quality of arts and handicrafts presented by Austria-Hungary at the World’s Fair.

Fine leather cassette dedicated to Emperor Francis Joseph I.
Photo: Austrian National Library

Embedded in the cover are five watercolors: the watercolor in the center presents a birds-eye view of the fairgrounds at the Lake Michigan site. Below the fairgrounds we can see the facade of the Austrian Exhibition space, a neo-baroque showcase architecture. The small watercolors present different views from the interior of the exhibit: people visiting the exhibit, a ship’s propeller fabricated by the famous Skoda-Works from Pilsen, a view of the Art Palace, and a medieval town gate that led to an architectural reconstruction of “Old-Vienna.”

“Old-Vienna” was an architectural reconstruction of medieval houses at the Viennese Graben, which had been demolished during the 1870s. This historical replica of medieval Vienna contained a restaurant where visitors to the World’s Fair could listen to Viennese music and concerts. The case was fabricated by Alexander Förster, fine leather manufacturer and purveyor to the court. The company Förster presented fine leather goods and other luxury objects at the exhibition. The photographs present the exhibition spaces, various buildings and document the Austrian contributions to the World’s Fair.

The main focus of the Austrian presentation were arts, crafts, and the art industry. The photographs present showcases of the sophisticated porcelain and ceramics industry (Wahliss, Goldscheider) and the famous Czech (Bohemian) and Viennese glass industry (Lötz, Moser, Lobmeyr). The gold and silverware industry were represented by companies from Vienna and Prague, (Böhm, Goldschmidt, Scheid). Interior design was presented by Jakob und Joseph Kohn and brothers Thonet.

The photographs also document Austrian contributions to the arts: e.g., “The Senses” by Hans Makart or the history painting “Defenestration of Prague” by Václav Brožík. In May 1918, Bohemian Protestants threw two Catholic delegates out of a window of the Prague Castle. The so-called “Defenestration of Prague” is regarded as the beginning of the Thirty Year’s War in Europe.

Looking West From Peristyle, Court of Honor and Grand Basin of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois.
Photo: C.D. Arnold (1844-1927); H.D. Higinbotham

A famous and very special feature of the Chicago World’s Fair was the Woman’s Building, designed by Sophia Hayden. The Woman’s Building contained exhibits of works by women across a variety of fields from fine art, applied art, literature, and music to science and home economics. There were also exhibits about women in American history and other cultures and places in the world. In the Austrian Section of the Woman’s Building art works by Austrian female artists were presented. Most prominently showcased was a “Paravent,” a hand-colored screen by the Archduchess Maria Theresia of Braganza. She was married to the younger brother of the Emperor, Karl Ludwig, who was nominated and confirmed by the Emperor as chairman of the Austrian committee in 1892. Archduchess Maria Theresia was nominated as the chairwoman of the Austrian Women’s Committee of the World’s Fair. Part of the exhibition was a literature section, showcasing Austrian women in literature, many of them still well-known today for their contribution to the Austrian women’s movement: Marie von Ebner Eschenbach, Helene Friedländer, Minna Kautsky, Ida Pfeifer, Berta von Suttner and Clara Schreiber.

Next to industrial and artistic productions, agriculture was represented at the exhibition, and on August 18—Emperor Francis Joseph’s birthday—“an elaborate parade was staged on the festival grounds featuring floats with various representatives of the Austrian and Hungarian community in Chicago.” Austria’s impressive contribution the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 has been characterized by a “queer mixture of the medieval and the modern.” Together with a strikingly modern display of the Secession movement and the Vienna Art and Crafts School at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, the Austrian exhibit in Chicago “left lasting legacies in the U.S.,” legacies, which are well preserved in the Austrian National Library, the successor of the Imperial Court Library in Vienna.

Hans Petschar is the Director of the Picture Archives at the Austrian National Library.