Plate (New York World's Fair)
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Object Label
This plate is a souvenir from the 1939–40 New York World’s Fair. Unlike the Seminole doll and Vili tusk, which members of those communities made, a New Yorker did not make this plate. Designed by Charles Murphy, the mass-produced plate features his Art Deco-style painting of the fairgrounds. At the center is his depiction of the futuristic Trylon and Perisphere structures; fair pavilions ring the perimeter. Just as the ivory tusk reflects a transitional period in Vili culture, Murphy’s plate represents America’s focus on the future late in the Great Depression. Plates such as this were meant to be displayed in cabinets or on walls.
Caption
Charles Murphy American, 1909–1994. Plate (New York World's Fair), ca. 1939. Eartthenware, 3/4 x 10 1/8 x 10 1/8 in. (1.9 x 25.7 x 25.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Paul F. Walter, 1994.165.75. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1994.165.75.jpg)
Designer
Manufacturer
Title
Plate (New York World's Fair)
Date
ca. 1939
Geography
Place manufactured: Newell, West Virginia, United States
Medium
Eartthenware
Classification
Dimensions
3/4 x 10 1/8 x 10 1/8 in. (1.9 x 25.7 x 25.7 cm)
Markings
On reverse, underglaze green: (monogram logo) "HLCC / HOMER LAUGHLIN / MADE IN USA". Gilded, printed in convex semi-circle: "DECORATION BY CHARLES MURPHY / 150th ANNIVERSARY / INAUGURATION / [horizontal] OF / GEORGE WASHINGTON / -AS- / FIRST PRESIDENT / OF THE UNITED STATES / [concave semi-circle] 1789-1939"
Credit Line
Gift of Paul F. Walter
Accession Number
1994.165.75
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
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