Exhibiting Ourselves: Fifty Years of British Exhibition Design

Britain has been 'exhibiting' itself in fairs and such like since Medieval times. The zenith of the 'exhibition' was in the Victorian and Edwardian Years when grandiose pavilions were sited over hundreds of acres of ground. Exhibiting Ourselves covers the period from post WWI to just after WWII and includes not only celebratory shows, such as the British Empire Exhibition and the Festival of Britain, but more humble, earthier ones such as the British Industries Fairs and the Daily Mail Home's Exhibitions. It also covers exhibitions with other purposes than merely trade, such as the propaganda exhibitions of the Ministry of Information during WWII, and 'design' exhibitions, setting out to improve 'good taste' of both manufacturers and consumers. It celebrates now forgotten exhibition designers, the showmen of their day, and charters the decline of the exhibition phenomenon as a media for change.