The 1904 St. Louis World Fair and Ottoman Representation: Celal Esad Arseven's Exhibition; [1904 St. Louis Dünya Fuari ve Osmanli Temsiliyeti: Celal Esad Arseven Sergisi]
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2020
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The organization of international fairs (the first of which was held in London in 1851), transformed into a regular occurence around the world due to the industrialization and expansion of the capital economy of Western countries. The fairs in question were places where all the elements reflecting a nation - especially technology, art, culture, and agricultural products - were collected and exhibited. Throughout the 19th century, it was seen that the Ottoman Empire tried to prove its worth in the modern world by participating in these fairs with drawings (including new architectural models inspired by the West and reproductions of these drawings), crafts and agricultural products. One of these was the exhibition held in 1904 for the centenary of the acquisition of the city of St. Louis in America from the French. At the fair in question, the fair committee adopted the theme of the Grand Bazaar and the Turkish Quarter and asked Celal Assad to prepare a construction project on this theme for the promotion of the Ottoman Empire. These drawings, which are in the Atatürk Library of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, are unknown, even though there has been much research and many publications about Celal Assad. In this article, the structures prepared by Celal Esad Arseven in 1903 and exhibited in the Turkish pavilion at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 were examined in the context of world fairs and the representation of the Ottoman Empire in these fairs. © Istanbul University Press. All Rights Reserved.