{"product_id":"new-york-worlds-fair-1940-peace-freedom","title":"New York World's Fair 1940 | For Peace and Freedom","description":"\u003cp\u003eFive national flags fill the upper two-thirds of the composition, each billowing from a tall pole topped with a gilt finial. The American Stars and Stripes occupies dead centre, flanked by a deep purple flag to the left and a warm gold-and-red flag to the right. Behind the mass of flags, James Earle Fraser's sixty-five-foot white neoclassical statue of George Washington stands on its pedestal against a pale blue sky. Across the terracotta esplanade below, a crowd of well-dressed visitors strolls in both directions, two children at the centre lifting small hand-held flags. The typography is assured: bold navy display lettering gives 'World's Fair of 1940 \/ New York', with a dark band at the foot carrying the admission price and opening date in gold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1939–40 New York World's Fair ran across two seasons at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens. The first season had carried the forward-looking theme 'Building the World of Tomorrow'. By the 1940 reopening, with war spreading through Europe, the organisers adopted a new theme: 'For Peace and Freedom'. The admission price was reduced from seventy-five to fifty cents; the programme shifted toward entertainment and overt patriotism; the Fraser statue of Washington, already a fixture of the fairground, became the visual centrepiece of the season's marketing. This poster, produced by the Polygraphic Company of America, Inc., New York City, is the primary advertising image for that 1940 season.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe vintage advertising poster design is reproduced here as a fine art archival print on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper, using pigment-based inks. The flat graphic rendering of the flags, the restrained palette of cobalt, red, cream and gold, and the confident sans-serif lettering of the lower band all situate this squarely in the American commercial illustration style of the late 1930s, drawing on Art Deco conventions in its monumental composition and clean colour blocking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA considered choice for anyone with an interest in the graphic design of the World's Fair era, the social history of America at the eve of its entry into the Second World War, or the visual language of large-scale American public events.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vintage Poster Archives","offers":[{"title":"A4","offer_id":64053792833913,"sku":"VPA-13774-A4","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3","offer_id":64053792866681,"sku":"VPA-13774-A3","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2","offer_id":64053792899449,"sku":"VPA-13774-A2","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"50x70cm","offer_id":64053792932217,"sku":"VPA-13774-50x70cm","price":39.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A1","offer_id":64053792964985,"sku":"VPA-13774-A1","price":44.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"70x100cm","offer_id":64053792997753,"sku":"VPA-13774-70x100cm","price":59.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A0","offer_id":64053793030521,"sku":"VPA-13774-A0","price":69.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0994\/1139\/4937\/files\/Travel-NewYorkWorldsFair-PeaceAndFreedom-1940.jpg?v=1785004572","url":"https:\/\/vintageposterarchives.com\/products\/new-york-worlds-fair-1940-peace-freedom","provider":"Vintage Poster Archives","version":"1.0","type":"link"}