Title: Brussel 1910
Artist: Henri Cassiers
Year of Publication: 1910
Publisher: Druk. J.-E. Goossens, Brussel
Language:
Size: 49” x 34”
Index Number: X0013

Description:

This poster was created for the Brussels International and World Exhibition that ran from April to November, 1910. An airship bedecked with flags from all over the world floats above the Belgian capital’s beautiful Grand-Place, or Great Square (or Market; Grote Markt in Flemish.) The sleek nose of the airship inserts itself into a scene that otherwise would seem unchanged from the time when it was built. Below the monstrous aircraft are numerous examples of ornate, northern European, 17th-century architecture—including the impressive Town Hall (in the immediate right of the image) and the King’s House (Maison du Roi)—hug the square which itself dates from the medieval period.

As a major tourist attraction, the Grand Place was one of the most recognizable landmarks in Brussels. The poster’s artist, Henri Cassiers (1858—1944; also known as Henry or Hendryk), must be allowed a measure of artistic license, however, as his depiction of the sun either rising or setting (perhaps rising to indicate a new dawn of technology and international fame for the city and nation) was more symbolic than astronomically correct. From the poster’s perspective, the sun would rise from the left of the image and set out of sight.

Editions of this poster were also produced in French, as Belgium has two official languages, French and Flemish. Working in Belgium, Cassiers’ poster output of the era included a number of travel-related images, for Belgian, American, and British shipping companies, such as the Red Star Line and the American Line (New York to Southampton). His attention to detail in the buildings he painted in the poster might stem from his initial training as an architecture student at the Academy of Brussels. Although he began working in that field, travels to the Netherlands led to an interest in art, stimulated by the English painter Charles Bartlett. Turning to art, Cassiers started making postcards in gouache and watercolor as well as the aforementioned tourist posters for maritime travel companies.

The Belgian government, of course keenly interested in attracting international visitors to Brussels for the Exhibition, promoted the exposition in the foreign press far in advance of its opening. In one example, The Atlanta Constitution of Atlanta, Georgia, published a letter from the local Belgian consulate in July of 1908. The letter described Belgium’s importance in European industries of all kinds, with “. . . the captains of industry and commerce of all nations . . .” coming to Brussels. The consulate urged anyone interested in attending or participating to contact the Belgian diplomats for further information. Such an exposition was indeed a tremendous boon to a nation’s economy, especially in areas such as tourism. Not only would the nation’s wares be in display for commercial contracts and development, but people would flock to the shows just to see the spectacles and the exhibits.

The airship pictured in the poster bears resemblances to those produced by two major manufacturers of the time, Godard and Lebaudy. Both were French firms, and some of the characteristics of the hull of the ship shown are similar to the distinctive shape of the Lebaudy craft. Godard had a series of airships termed “La Belgique,” made between 1909—10 and sold to the Belgians.
During the period of the exposition, the Aéro-Club of Belgium held a large airshow, “Le Meeting de Bruxelles,” from July 23—August 4. Only a few weeks prior to the meet, on July 7, the Belgian aviator Jan Olieslagers set a distance record of 1720 meters. During the meet itself, Olieslagers set another record, on August 4, again of 1720 meters, with another Belgian aviator, Jules Tyck, flying 1700 meters. Tragedy marred the show as well, all too often the case in aviation’s early years. The Belgian aviator Nicolas Kinet, on August 3, was flying a biplane when a strong wind came up, buffeting him and causing him to crash, dying almost immediately. Compounding the tragedy was the fact that his death was witnessed by both his father and his wife. He was a star Belgian motorcyclist who had finished his pilot’s training that year and had already made his mark at several air shows.

Later that fall, during the exhibition’s last months, another record was set. The Automobile-Club of France had offered a 100,000 franc prize to any flyer who could make a roundtrip between Paris and Brussels, a feat not yet accomplished. The Dutchman Henri Wijnmalen, taking off on October 16 and returning on October 17, won the victory in a Farman-Gnôme biplane, flying 560 kilometers in just under 28 hours. A visitor at the Brussels Exposition witnessed Wijnmalen’s plane flying over the exposition site during the afternoon of October 16.

Exposition-goers to the Brussels show could take away with them a whimsical reminder of the infant aviation’s already thrilling significance: a pleated set of postcards depicting various buildings housing the exposition’s exhibits as well as other notable Brussels sites, packaged within a little case shaped like a Wright Brothers Type A biplane in flight. A very good marketing tactic: who wouldn’t want to own their very own reproduction of one of the newest and most exciting technologies, especially after witnessing such sights as Wijnmalen soaring over the Exposition on his way to set a record and make a fortune? This early marriage of advertising and aviation would help, in its own little way, to set the stage for decades of such couplings to come.

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