A World's Fair is a large international exhibition at which nations and manufacturers display their achievements in industry, science, design and the arts. The modern tradition began with the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, held in Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, in 1851.
The success of the Great Exhibition prompted a series of further international exhibitions, including those in London in 1862, Paris in 1855, 1867, 1878, 1889 and 1900, Philadelphia in 1876 and Chicago in 1893. Leading furniture makers, silversmiths, potteries, glassworks and metalworkers produced spectacular exhibition pieces to showcase their skill and win medals, and many firms subsequently advertised these awards on their wares and labels. The exhibitions spread new styles internationally, introducing Japanese art to Western audiences and helping to launch Art Nouveau at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900. Objects documented as having been shown at a major exhibition carry considerable prestige, and contemporary catalogues, illustrated reports and medals can help confirm provenance. Souvenirs, commemorative ceramics, medals and printed ephemera from the fairs also form a popular collecting field.
