Aerial View Chicago, 1933
World's Fair Picture Puzzle

This item is sold. It has been placed here in our online archives as a service for researchers and collectors.

Chicago Aerial View World's Fair Chicago Aerial View World's Fair
Chicago Aerial View World's Fair Chicago Aerial View World's Fair Chicago Aerial View World's Fair Chicago Aerial View World's Fair
Harry McEwen Pettit (1867-1941) (after)
World’s Fair Picture Puzzle – Chicago 1933 [box title]
A Century of Progress – International Exposition – Chicago – 1933 [view title]
Rand McNally & Co., Chicago: 1932
Color offset print mounted on board and dissected into puzzle pieces
11.25 x 17.25 inches, overall
12 x 18 x 1 inches, original box
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Bird’s-eye view of the 1933 World’s Fair of Chicago in the form of a jigsaw puzzle with over 300 pieces, in its original box.  A key in the lower right provides the coordinates for various attractions not part of the fair, but already in the area, such as the Hall of Science, Chrysler Building, Court of Nations, Adler Planetarium, and Soldier Field.  After the exposition closed in 1934, the space returned to parkland and the fair structures were all eventually moved or demolished, with the exception of Balbo’s Column, a gift from the Italian government.  The view shown here was a prospective view created before the fair opened by Harry M. Pettit, who was known for his architectural bird’s-eye views and was the official artist for the Chicago World’s Fair.

The Chicago World’s Fair, with the theme of “A Century of Progress,” between 12th and 39th Streets along the shore of Lake Michigan, opened in May 1933 and closed at the end of October 1934.  The fair was a great success financially, in terms of attendance -- some 39 million visits -- and in presenting a positive family-oriented view of Chicago countering the seedier aspects of its image as the home of gangsters like Al Capone.  Its success inspired New York to mount its own world’s fair in 1939-40.

Harry McEwen (H.M.) Pettit was an American architectural painter and illustrator who enjoyed a long career from the 1890s to the 1930s.  Born in Rock Island, Illinois, he worked as an artist for his hometown newspaper before moving to New York City at age 23, where he worked in interior decoration.  At the turn of the century, he illustrated for publications such as Leslie’s Weekly and Harper’s Weekly and books such as King’s Views of New York.  Nicknamed “the bird’s-eye view artist” he frequently produced prospective views and conceptual renderings for proposed architectural designs, both as illustrations and as larger commissioned works, such as a 15-foot mural for the Duquesne Works steel mill in Pittsburgh (c. 1920) and a 27-foot mural, The Gary Works and City of Gary, Indiana, for which he won a medal at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.  Other clients included Standard Oil, Deere & Co., the Pennsylvania and Grand Central train stations in New York, West Point Military Academy, and universities including Northwestern, Loyola, Columbia, NYU, CUNY and George Washington University.  Among his popular images was King’s Dream of New York (1908), a futuristic view of the city with the skies filled with dirigibles, one of many works he did for the publisher Moses King.  By 1915, Pettit had moved to Chicago and was the official artist for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933-34, and the New York World’s Fair in 1939-40, though he died without completing his painting of the latter event.

Reference:

“A Century of Progress 1933.”  Chicago Historical Society.  8 October 1996.  http://www.chicagohs.org/FIRE/commemorate/pic0551.html (16 March 2006).

“A Century of Progress Exposition.” The University of Chicago Library Digital Activities & Collections.  2004.  http://century.lib.uchicago.edu/about.html (16 March 2006).

“Century of Progress Records, 1928-1934.” Chicago Public Library Special Collections and Preservation Division.   http://www.chipublib.org/008subject/012special/cop.html (16 March 2006).

Templeton, David.  “Duquesne Works mural was a treasure in the trash.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  1 December 2004. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04336/419587.stm (16 March 2006).

Walsh, David.  “Pennsylvania steel works mural restored: rescuing history from the dustbin.”  World Socialist Web Site.  18 December 2004.  http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/duqu-d18.shtml (16 March 2006).