Paris Expositions

The Paris Expositions were well-known international exhibitions that showcased art, industry, and culture. The iconic French city has been host to more than a half dozen Exposition Universelles, also known as World’s Fairs. However, before international exhibitions were popular, national exhibitions had long been a tradition in France. Starting in the late eighteenth century, France held festivals to celebrate French manufacturing and industry. It allowed the local people to see the technology factories were using and what type of goods they produced, all in an enjoyable and festive environment with food, games, music, and other entertainment.

International exhibitions involve participants from countries around the world. During the Industrial Revolution, such exhibitions were instrumental in introducing the world to new inventions and technologies. Architecture, art, and culture were also shared. The general public was invited to attend and view displays, demonstrations, and presentations. As technology and society changed throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the focus of the exhibitions changed as well.

Brief History

In 1796, the first national French exhibition was held in the industrial city of Saint-Cloud. The festival gathered people from local villages, towns, and cities to appreciate their French heritage and nationality as well as promote their manufacturing. The idea started when a French politician commissioned an inspection of local French manufacturers, and the report indicated there was a surplus of goods in storage. He had an idea to hold a fair to exhibit the unsold goods to the public. The fair was successful, and future festivals occurred in the years to follow. However, the location of the castle of Saint-Cloud was decided to be inconvenient, and the Hotel d’Orsay in Paris was chosen as the exhibition’s future venue. By 1798, 110 exhibitors were participating in the almost yearly event. Eleven more French national industrial exhibitions occurred between 1801 and 1849.

In 1851, the first World’s Exposition, or World’s Fair, was held in London. This event not only showcased British art, culture, and technology, but also invited other nations to exhibit their wares. The political rule of Queen Victoria provided a stable backdrop for the event, and her husband, Prince Albert, was eager to organize the exposition. He titled the fair “The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations.” It was to be different from other festivals. It was open to the public from all countries, and had new modern buildings commissioned for the exhibits. Although international expositions have evolved over time from industrialization to cultural exchange and finally to national branding, this first exposition in London launched a series of international expositions that continue on to modern time.

French emperor Napoleon III was one of the international visitors to London’s World Expo. He was captivated by the technology and the scale of presentation. He saw the value of the exposition not only to promote patriotism within the host country, but also to promote technology and industry to other nations. He was determined that his country, France, would host the next international exposition.

Overview

The first Exposition Universelle was held in Paris from May to November of 1855. Held on the Champs-Elysees, its theme focused on agriculture, industry, and art. Emperor Napoleon commissioned it after being impressed with London’s World Exhibition in 1851. He desired to outshine it with his Palais de l’Industrie (Palace of Industry) exhibition hall built exclusively for the fair. More than five million visitors attended the event, and twenty-seven countries were represented.

Works of art from famous artists, such as Henri Lehmann and William Holman Hunt, were on display. Bordeaux wines were also showcased by Napoleon for the world to appreciate, leading to the official Bordeaux wine ranking and classification system.

The second Exposition Universelle was held in Paris from April to November of 1867. It was also arranged by Emperor Napoleon with the same theme as the first exposition, focusing on agriculture, industry, and art. He invited prominent political leaders from around the world to visit the large military parade ground of the Champ de Mars to view the exhibits in one main building and many smaller buildings scattered throughout the grounds. Famous French authors, such as Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas, wrote brochures to publicize the fair.

Foreign contributors to the exhibition included the French colonies, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, the United States, and Canada. Exhibits included artwork, displays of prehistoric artifacts, machines using new forms of technology, and a presentation of ancient Egyptian monuments by the Suez Canal Company.

In celebration of the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Paris hosted the Exposition Universelle with the theme of new technology from May to November of 1878. Due to political difficulties, much of the exhibition areas were unfinished when the fair opened. However, about a month after the opening, the exhibits were completed. The exhibition area was noteworthy because it was larger than any other previous international exhibition in France or any other country. The Gare du Champ de Mars was handsomely rebuilt for railway use to receive the millions of visitors.

Much of the exhibition area was occupied by the French, but thirty-six other nations also participated. Along the Avenue des Nations, examples of residential architecture of many of the countries were on display. The Trocadero, a Moorish palace, was constructed with towers and galleries that hosted a symphony in honor of the exhibition. Also noteworthy was the completed head of the Statue of Liberty on display at the palace gallery.

New technology, such as Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, electric arc lighting, phonographs, and Thomas Edison’s megaphone were exhibited. Henry E. Steinway, the German American piano maker, showcased a grand piano that was a favorite with visitors. Also popular was the award-winning solar-powered engine by inventor Augustin Mouchot that converted solar energy into steam power to produce ice.

The Exposition Universelle held from May to October of 1889 was significant to Paris because it celebrated the one hundred–year anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, which marked the beginning of the French Revolution. The theme for the international fair was “The French Revolution.” It included a reconstruction of the stone prison of Bastille that was ornately decorated and used as a ballroom.

The main entrance of the exposition was located at the Eiffel Tower. It was constructed especially for the exhibition on the Champs de Mars, and named for the engineer that designed and built it, Gustave Eiffel. Visitors were welcome to explore the tower up to the second platform. They had to climb the stairs to enjoy the view, since the elevators had not yet been completed. The Galerie des Machines (Machine Hall) was also constructed for the fair. It was made of iron and had a system of hinged arches that boasted the longest interior enclosed space of the time. Another highlight of this exposition was the use of a narrow gauge railway to transport visitors. The nearly two-mile railway built by the French manufacturer Decauville delighted guests and continued to operate after the exhibition closed.

Along with technology, art and culture were also showcased at the event. The Opera Comique drew crowds each evening as it premiered an opera performance composed for the exhibit. The American Pavilion also was popular with its “Wild West Show” by Buffalo Bill Cody and Annie Oakley that demonstrated cattleman skills such as shooting, horse riding, and bull roping. In the French Pavilion, the largest diamond in the world, the Imperial Diamond, was on display for guests to view.

The world exposition at the turn of the twentieth century was held in Paris from May to November of 1900 with the theme of “19th Century: An Overview.” It was designed to take a look back at the last century and look ahead to the exciting developments predicted for the future. The popular art style of Art Nouveau, which is inspired by nature and natural structure, dominated the design of the show. In addition to art, technology was showcased, including the Grande Roue de Paris ferris wheel, diesel engines, film making, escalators, and the first magnetic audio recorder called the telegraphone.

One of the main attractions of the event was the largest refracting telescope ever built at that time. It was forty-nine inches in diameter, and had a moveable mirror of seventy-eight inches wide that reflected light from the sky. It was called the “Great Exposition Refractor” in honor of the event. Another notable event of the exposition was the gold medal award presented to Campbell’s Soup Company. The company still continues to use an image of this medal on many of its products.

Along with technology, cultural art was presented. “The Exposition Negres d’Amerique” (The Exhibit of American Negroes) highlighted photos of African Americans by Frances Benjamin Johnston. This exhibit was prepared by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois to show the world the positive contributions of African Americans in the United States.

Many other countries contributed to the event, showcasing culture, art, and technology. Lifelike displays transported visitors to scenes in Austria, Hungary, Finland, and Sweden. The Russian Pavilion was especially popular with its exhibit of the matryoshka doll (painted Russian nesting doll). The British Pavilion had one of the largest exhibits, a furnished mock-Jacobean mansion. The German Pavilion housed a traditional wood and stained-glass beer hall that was popular with many of the visitors.

The Grand Palais also showcased a variety of art exhibits, along with a smaller Art Noveau–inspired structure called the Petit Palais, and the Palais de l’Electrique (The Palace of Electricity), which controlled the electrical energy that brought the exhibits to life within it.

The exposition from May to November of 1937 had the theme of arts and technology in modern life. It inspired many new and beautiful Paris buildings. The Palais de Chaillot, which contains the Musée de l’Homme (Museum of Man), and the Palais de Tokyo, which contains the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (City of Paris Museum of Modern Art), were both constructed for this exhibition. Originally, the exposition was also to unveil an architectural centerpiece 2,300-foot tower with a hotel, restaurant, and parking garage, but the idea was not used due to its exorbitant cost to construct.

Besides the permanent structures, many pavilions were set up to provide visitors with attractions showcasing multicultural modern art and technological innovations. There was the Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux (Pavilion of New Times), which was designed by the prominent Swiss French architect known as Le Corbusier. Nearby was the Canadian Pavilion at the base of the iconic Eiffel Tower. It housed artwork depicting Canadian culture, such as Joseph-Émile Brunet’s many paintings and twenty-eight-foot sculpture of a buffalo.

The Spanish Pavilion was designed by Spanish architect Josep Lluis Sert and included many renowned works of Spanish art, such as Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, Joan Miro’s The Reaper (Catalan peasant in revolt), and Alexander Calder’s sculpture Mercury Fountain. This pavilion was especially interesting to visitors since the Spanish Civil War was on-going during the exhibition. Also politically notable was the placement of the Nazi German Pavilion directly across from the Soviet Pavilion, which showcased politically motivated artwork praising communism. Although German leader Adolf Hitler initially showed little interest in the exhibition at first, he was convinced by his architect Albert Speer to participate in order to promote his political ideologies of the Nazi state. The Italian Pavilion promoted the country’s political movement as well. The structure depicted corporatism, the economic policy that united capitalism and communism with discipline, order, and unity. Its pavilion contained open colonnades, a grand entry hall, and an impressive space called the Hall of Honor, which housed traditional, modern, and industrial art.

The last exhibition held in Paris took place from July to August of 1947, and had the theme of urbanism and housing. It was a specialized exposition presented by the Bureau International des Expositions and focused on post–World War II reconstruction plans. During the war, Paris was heavily bombed. Many significant historical Paris landmarks were extensively damaged or destroyed by the fighting. Extensive rebuilding to the infrastructure of the city and surrounding suburbs was necessary for people to return to their homes or build new places to live. This exposition was not as large as past exhibitions due to its specialized theme, but it did have fourteen countries that participated.

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