exposition

exposition or exhibition, term frequently applied to an organized public fair or display of industrial and artistic productions, designed usually to promote trade and to reflect cultural progress. Expositions have also been important for their emphasis on scientific and technological innovations. Expositions grew out of the traditional medieval cloth fairs (see fair ). Organized exhibitions of fine and industrial arts date back to 18th-century France and England. The international exposition as we know it today began with the exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London in 1851; its huge success inspired a series of international expositions throughout the world. Among the most famous expositions and world's fairs are the following: the Paris international expositions of 1867, 1889 (the Eiffel Tower was built for this occasion), and 1900; the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia (1876); the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago (1893); the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis (1904); the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley (1924-25); the Century of Progress Exposition at Chicago (1933-34); the Golden Gate International Exposition at San Francisco (1939-40); the two New York world's fairs (1939-40, 1964-65); the Brussels World's Fair (1958); the Century 21 Exposition at Seattle (1962); Expo 67 in Montreal (1967 world's fair); and Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan (1970 world's fair). More recent expositions and world's fairs have been held at Vancouver (1986), Seville (1992), Lisbon (1998), and Hanover, Germany (2000). The Bureau of International Expositions in Paris regulates and sanctions world's fairs and international expositions.

ex·po·si·tion / ˌekspəˈzishən/ • n. 1. a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory: an exposition and defense of Marx's writings. ∎  Mus. the part of a movement, esp. in sonata form, in which the principal themes are first presented. ∎  the part of a play or work of fiction in which the background to the main conflict is introduced. 2. a large public exhibition of art or trade goods. ∎ archaic the action of making public; exposure: the country squires dreaded the exposition of their rustic conversation. DERIVATIVES: ex·po·si·tion·al / -zishənl/ adj.

exposition.
1. In sonata form, the first section of a comp. in which the prin. themes are expounded before they are developed.

2. In fugue the first statement of the subject by all the ‘voices’ in turn.