[New York Photographica]: [Allen, Charles F.]: [Allen, Gabriel]:

$4,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

[LARGE-FORMAT PANORAMIC PHOTOGRAPH OF THE INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENT ZONE OF THE 1939 NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR]. An extraordinary and obscure seventeen-foot panoramic photograph highlighting the modernist architecture of the international zone of the 1939 New York World's Fair. The photograph presents a 360 view around the Lagoon of Nations, starting at the Belgian Pavilion at left, scanning across the statuary-filled fountains in Constitution Mall (with the Heinz 57 exhibit and the Trylon and Perisphere at the Theme Centre in the background), past the French Pavilion, the first Foreign Pavilion, across the Court of Peace (with the U.S. Government building in the deep background), the second Foreign Pavilion (with mounted lettering for Romania and a banner for Japan hanging on the front), and ending at the Czechoslovakian pavilion at far right. The Soviet Pavilion is not pictured, as it was one of the last exhibits completed before the opening of the fair on April 30, 1939; this fact also helps us date the photograph. Several workmen and men in suits, and a handful of automobiles are pictured, with some of the people taking notice of the camera.A printed notice, which appears twice near the bottom edge of the photograph reads: "This is the largest direct photograph ever made! It is not an enlarged or pieced picture, but the actual negative size. It was made by Charles F. & Gabriel Allen and they have specialized in panorama photography since 1892." Few specifics are known about th

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