PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS
Page 86 – THE CURIOUS GRAIN PICTURE
THE CURIOUS GRAIN PICTURE.—There were many fine exhibits in the big Illinois Building, many novel displays and a great showing of objects with what might be called an agricultural tendency, but the throng was always greatest at one particular point, that being immediately in front of what became known popularly as ” The Grain Picture.” The picture represented a typical, well-conducted Illinois prairie farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and its peculiarity was that it was not painted at all, but was a wonderfully arranged mosaic of grains and grasses. Even the frame and overhanging curtain were made in the same manner. The picture, a large one, occupied a considerable space on one of the walls in the western part of the building, and stood the test of close examination wonderfully well. Its vivid coloring, high lights and deep shadows made a most harmonious whole. The farmhouse, the barns, the various sheds, windmill, and even the cattle and horses were depicted, and the fields of grass, of standing grain and of grain partly reaped, with the green hedges between them, were shown with a fidelity to nature which was surprising. It was evident that Mr. Fursman had the eye of the artist in addition to his gift of infinite patience and ingenuity. Corn ears were largely used in the frame, and corn husks also assisted in the work, while other grains, natural grasses, berries and leaves were utilized in a lesser degree. The conception, as a whole, was as artistic and harmonious as it was certainly most novel.