“Exposition Exhibition: Art and the 1898 Omaha World’s Fair” will be on display in the MEDICI Gallery in Richards Hall Dec. 15-19.
The exhibition, created by students in Professor of Art History Wendy Katz’s 19th century American Art class revises, revisits and reimagines the Trans-Mississippi Exhibition.
The 1898 International Exposition in Omaha drew more than 2.5 million people, including President William McKinley and members of 35 Native American tribes.
“I think students came into the class feeling like this was a pretty ’niche’ subject in art history, but they quickly grasped the ways in which the categories created for art and culture in the 1890s are still determining university, museum and market decisions today,” Katz said. “I was proud of the thoughtful way that they engaged with and tried to understand the people and artists of 1898, though their views were so different than theirs. Their artwork is based on their research into objects (photos, souvenirs, artworks, et al.) from the 1898 exposition, but it expresses their own understanding of why the exposition still matters.”
The exhibition is curated by graduate students Toni Parker, Kerry Eddy and Jalen DeCoteau. Graduate student Madeline Butkovich designed the graphics. Sixteen undergraduates are contributing artworks, and the other 14 students are writing papers.
The exhibit showcases projects that explore concepts and ideas inspired by at least three specific objects or visual materials from Omaha’s Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition.
Ellie Nelson, a junior art history and studio art major, is creating dioramas of the Fine Arts Building and the Liberal Arts Building to include what was in each of them.
“In the real Fine Arts Building, it housed paintings, sculptures and ‘high art’ meant to demonstrate refinement, beauty and professionalism. It reflected aesthetic and moral progress,” Nelson said. “The real Liberal Arts Building contained objects related to education, science, technology and the applied arts, like photography, printing, pottery, typewriters, design and industry. It reflected intellectual and industrial progress and how innovation could improve society.”
Nelson said she found it interesting how the fair defined “art” and “culture’ into two different categories—industrial innovation and aesthetic refinement.
“I wanted to look more closely at those distinctions,” she said. “What I hope people get from the dioramas is an understanding of how the 1898 Omaha Exposition used art and architecture to define progress in two competing ways, one rooted in beauty and culture through the Fine Arts Building, and the other in productivity and modernity through the Liberal Arts Building, both reinforcing America’s vision of itself as a civilized, advancing nation.”
Anabella Kerans, a senior art history and psychology major, is contributing a research paper on the development of Kountze Place in North Omaha.
“Herman Kountze was a wealthy land-owner, and he wanted nothing more than to make it a lavish neighborhood targeted to the upper class,” she said. “This particular plot of land became incredibly successful—with hosting the Omaha Exposition, the Greater Omaha Exposition, and eventually becoming the home of Kountze Place. My research covers how the luxurious Kountze Place neighborhood experienced white flight, redlining and heightened crime rates, all due to being the initial choice of the Omaha Trans-Mississippi Exposition.”
Kerans found learning about the Trans-Mississippi Exposition to be intriguing.
“I came into this class with almost no knowledge of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, but through the process of the class, I feel that I have learned more than I ever thought I would. Having come from Omaha, I feel as if I have uncovered a hidden aspect of my home,” she said. “The exhibition will be an incredible learning opportunity for all those who choose to visit.”
Nelson said visitors to the exhibit should expect to see a wide variety of projects using different materials and showing different aspects and concepts surrounding the exposition.
“I want them to see the importance of the fair beyond the superficial white buildings and lights, and to understand how it represented or failed to represent certain groups of people, the political messaging that wasn’t obvious at first, and how it compared to other world’s fairs,” she said. “Before this class, I had no idea Nebraska held a world’s fair, and it would be a great opportunity for people to learn something new about our state and to show support for all the hard work that my peers and I have done over the course of this semester.”
In examining the legacy of the exposition, Nelson said the fair’s impact is still felt today.
“The Trans-Mississippi Exposition presented an image of progress through grand architecture, art displays, and technological demonstrations; however, it also relied on deeply problematic representations of Indigenous peoples and Black people,” she said. “It remains relevant today because many of the issues it raises, such as the erasure and romanticization of Indigenous cultures and the treatment of certain groups as ‘other,’ are still present in contemporary society. Studying the fair encourages us to look more critically at historical events like world’s fairs and to recognize both the beneficial and harmful impacts they have had.”
Nelson said this experience has reshaped the way she thinks about the past and its influence on the present.
“What I’ve gained from this experience is a deeper understanding of how historical events shape the way we view culture, identity and representation today,” she said. “It has also encouraged me to approach historical and cultural materials with more critical thinking, as well as a more informed and empathetic perspective.”