New York World's Fair 1939 - Brown

The poster, which displays surrealist elements as observed by the burnt orange background and a blue floating earth, was created for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. The poster, by John Atherton features Lady Liberty holding the symbols of the 1939 World’s Fair, the Trylon and Perisphere as well as Earth in her lap against an orange background. The Trylon and Persisphere were designed by Wallace K. Harrison and Jacques-Andre Foulioux and were used to showcase the futuristic design that the Fair aimed for. The official colors of the fair were blue and orange and clearly used in Atherton’s poster.

The 1939 World’s Fair took place on 1,216 acres of land in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and is noted in history as the second most expensive world’s fair of all time. The fair, themed "Building the World of Tomorrow" opened on April 30th 1939 with 206,000 people in attendance from all over the world. Most significant from the Fair, the former RCA President used the occasion of the Grand Opening to introduce television to the masses. Another popular event of the fair was the exhibition for the Westinghouse Time Capsule which is not to be opened for another 5,000 years containing writings by Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann, copies of Life Magazine, camel cigarettes and a Mickey mouse watch (Wikipedia).

John Atherton (1900 – 1952) was an American graphic designer, painter and illustrator. Having studied at College of the Pacific and California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, Atherton, as a student, worked in a number of art studios where he acquired the knowledge to further his career as a professional artist. Atherton is best known for his work featured on many covers of the Saturday Evening Post from 1942 to 1961. The American artist is also well known for his World War II posters, including his award-winning "Buy a Share in America" poster from 1941.

This is an Original Vintage Poster; it is not a reproduction. This poster is conservation mounted, linen backed, and in excellent condition. We guarantee the authenticity of all our posters.