Chicago World's Fair
Thomas Moran
American Art
Watercolor was the ideal medium for the late nineteenth-century landscape painter Thomas Moran, a follower of the British painter J. M. W. Turner who was drawn to dramatic natural features in places such as Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. In this view of the lagoon and central buildings constructed for the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893—an extravagant, nationalistic salute to the westward advance of “civilization”—Moran bathed the scene in the glowing colors of a vivid sunset and violet shadows that might have seemed extreme if rendered in oils.
MEDIUM
Transparent watercolor with opaque white highlights and graphite on cream, moderately thick, moderately textured wove paper
DATES
1894
DIMENSIONS
29 x 21 9/16 in. (73.7 x 54.8 cm)
Frame: 33 1/2 x 26 x 2 3/4 in. (85.1 x 66 x 7 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed and dated lower left (initials in monogram): "TMoran / 1894"
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
31.194
CREDIT LINE
Bequest of Clara L. Obrig
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Thomas Moran (American, 1837â1926). Chicago World's Fair, 1894. Transparent watercolor with opaque white highlights and graphite on cream, moderately thick, moderately textured wove paper, 29 x 21 9/16 in. (73.7 x 54.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Clara L. Obrig, 31.194 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 31.194_cropped_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 31.194_cropped_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
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![Recto: [Untitled] (Man in Boat)
Verso: [Untitled] (Beach Scene)](https://d1lfxha3ugu3d4.cloudfront.net/images/opencollection/objects/size2_sq/1999.143a_SL1.jpg)
