La lune à un mètre : Souvenir de l’Exposition 1900

A$2,750 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

[Paris : Exposition Universelle, 1900]. Lithograph on tinted paper laid down on board, as issued; circular format, diameter 400 mm; a couple of surface marks and tiny amounts of paper loss at the right edge, otherwise fine; mounted in a glazed frame. A striking souvenir poster produced for the Exposition Universelle held in Paris between April and November, 1900. The design is based on an image from the groundbreaking film by Georges M li s, La lune un m tre (1898), more famously known by its alternative title Le r ve d un astronome ( The Astronomer s dream ). It was used to advertise one of the most popular attractions at the exhibition, a powerful telescope known as La grande lunette . Constructed specifically for the exhibition by Paul Gautier, the telescope was the centrepiece of the Palais d Optique, and was advertised under the rubrique La lune un m tre (The moon from a distance of one metre). With the aid of this telescope, views of the moon s surface were displayed on a giant screen; these images were produced by the astronomers Maurice Loewy and Pierre Henri Puiseux as a series of large photographs which were printed for the public in stereoscopic and carte de visite format. The Exposition Universelle, which received 50 million visitors, was a showcase for the technology of the present and future. This poster celebrates marvellous advancements in both science ( La grande lunette was the world s largest refracting telescope) and the arts (by drawing its design from th

• Binding: Hardcover

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