Pan-American Logo
|
|
Pan-American Logo
|
|
One of the most enduring symbols of the 1901 Pan-American Exposition is the image of North and South America symbolized by two women whose flowing dresses form the shapes of the continents and whose hands are joined over Central America. The original painting was by Lockport, NY artist, Raphael Beck (1859-1947), who won a competition in 1899 for the emblem to be used in marketing the Exposition and was paid $100.. The Lockport Union-Sun proudly reported this on December 4, 1900:
 |
Mr. Beck's Design Completed To the beauty of the design of the Pan-American seal which has made the work of our townsman, Raphael Beck, famous will be added the fact that in the work will be embalmed the loveliness of two of the most beautiful women in America. Maxine Elliot and Maude Coleman Woods have been selected out of hundreds in the beauty contest of the New York World as the most representatively beautiful women in America, and Mr. Beck's beautiful design will receive an added attraction when these women take a permanent place in his work. Miss Elliot is too well-kwown as the most beautiful woman on the stage to need further introduction to the public, while Miss Coleman [Woods] has been honored as the leading beauty of Virginia, her native state, by the Daughters of the Confederacy. |
 |
The original watercolor design a a color lithograph are stored at the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Museum.
