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Japanese Sliding Door Paintings From 1893 Exposition Discovered In Park District Storage Facility

(CBS) -- Three Japanese sliding door paintings that were on display during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago have been discovered in a Park District storage facility, according to a press release from Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office.

The three paintings are attributed to artist Hashimoto Gaho and were originally on display at the Phoenix Pavilion on the Wooded Isle at the exposition.

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One of the Japanese sliding doors that was found in a Chicago Park District storage facility. (Credit: Mayor Emanuel's Office)

They hung it in the Pavilion for 50 years until removed for safekeeping three years before a fire all but destroyed the structure. They hung for a while in the Park District cafeteria and then shuttled of to storage where Park District historian Julia Bachrach saw them.

"They are gold and they are brightly colored and I looked at them, and I have been a historian for the Park District for a while, and I just assumed they were from the 1933 World's Fair.

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The paintings were believed to have been lost or destroyed. They are in moderately stable condition and the Park District is working with the Art Institute to conserve them.

"These paintings bring to life, in vivid color, a moment of history that had previously been lost forever," said Janice Katz, associate curator of Japanese art at the Art Institute in the release.

It has not been determined how the paintings will be displayed once conservation work is done.

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