The Great Exhibition "Wot is to Be", Probable Results of The Industry of All Nations in The Year '51, Showing What is to be Exhibited, Who is To Exhibit, in Short How Its All Going to Be Done 1850

This lithograph, made by George Augustus Sala around 1851, takes a humorous look at what could be expected at the Great Exhibition, in London. Lithography is a printmaking process using a flat stone or metal plate, which allows for the efficient reproduction of images and text. Here, this mechanical mode of image production serves social commentary. Sala uses the printing press as a vehicle to deliver caricatures of the countries represented at the Exhibition, from Switzerland's questionable yodellers to Germany's oversized sausage. We see here not the celebration of industry, but a satirical take on national stereotypes and consumer culture. Each figure is presented as a product, ripe for consumption by the British public. The humor is biting, but also revealing. Sala prompts us to consider how national identity is constructed through the commodification of culture, and the role of mass production in shaping our perceptions of one another. It is not just an artwork, but a critical reflection on the social and economic forces at play during the Industrial Revolution.