Bird's Eye View of the 1867 Universal Exposition, Paris

This a lithographic print showing a "Bird's Eye View" of the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris by Eugene Cicéri (1813-1890). Eugene Cicéri was a prominent French illustrator, lithographer, and sometimes painter who specialized in landscapes and scenes of buildings. He often chose cityscapes and major natural features as his subject matter, and his style is characterized by deep perspective and a clear, privileged level of detail. His citycapes tend to position themselves at one major landmark and gaze out across several others. 

Eugene Cicéri, Cologne, Vue prise de Deutz, 1864

Here, Cicéri offers a massive, closely detailed view of the Exposition grounds, with a focus on the massive oval exhibition hall, the Palais Champ-de-Mars, which took its name from the area of the exposition. Interestingly, the (Mainardi 144) vantage point for the print is positioned above the Trocadero Square, looking Southeast over the Lena bridge towards the Champ de Mars. This was a "symbolic" viewpoint of Paris from which many other views of the Exposition were framed, including another print of the Exposition by Pinot and Sagaire, as well as Edouard Manet's "View of the Universal Exposition of Paris, which has a compressed view of the cityscape.

Cicéri's lithograph was included as the main illustration for ads for the Illustrated Exposition Universelle, a bi-weekly publication of information about the fair planned to run for sixty issues. The flyer advertises that the first thirty issues form an attractive monograph of the fair that and an encyclopedic record. Ciceri's lithograph is closely cropped in this printed version to show the Palais as well as the French lighthouse. While the French lighthouse, the Phare des Roches-Douvres, was built with a typical neoclassical design and gas lighting, the British design used a skeletal structure that caused an uproar for its "fleshless frame" and appearance like an "enormous scaffold." (Mainardi 146) It was, however, lit with an electric light, and served as a symbol of ingenuity and progress in works such as Manet's painting. Its visual unpopularity, and possibly the French distaste for being overshadowed by Britain, led to the British lighthouse being cropped from the flyer in which Cicéri's lithograph was reproduced as well as other lithographs, such as that of L. Dumont. In this sense, Cicéri's lithograph offered a relatively less-adulterated view of the fair. 

The British Lighthouse visible in the lithograph. 

What else can this print tell us about the 1867 exposition? The central Palace shows major revisions to the layout of the exposition following the financial failure of the 1855 Exposition. The 1855 Expo's use of many exhibition buildings was thought to contribute to its deficit, and so Prince Napoleon recommended the use of a single building laid out on the axes of product and nation. This was largely accomplished in the 1867 Exposition, where the outer and largest ring was reserved for industry, the inner ring for fine arts, and the center for a display of currency, thought to represent the exposition's revised priorities. While some representations of the exposition show the Palace in a tranquil and carefully landscaped setting,  Ciceri shows the exposition as incredibly busy, for example in the extended network of fair grounds that ring the Palais as well as the throngs of visitors visible throughout the print. This was in some important ways contrary to state expectations for the exposition's design, but it is a more accurate depiction of reality. French artists protested the new focus on industry, the massive reduction in the number of awards given, and the 67% rejection rate that clearly excluded a younger generation of artists, including Cezanne, Manet, Renoir, and Monet from Exposition display. While a few French works such as sculptures were moved to the inner courtyard, a number of artists as well as several foreign exhibitions moved their displays to the Champ de Mars, the larger grounds of the exhibition. As a result, this extended network of attractions and pavilions formed, thwarting the hope for a coherent centralized plan.