Paris Exposition des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne

The aim of this important international exhibition was to bring together original artistic and industrial practices, thereby showing the ways in which artistic creativity could impact on all aspects of modern life. The outlook at Paris 1937 had been affected by the political climate in France, following the election of a government of the Popular Front. The emphasis on luxury goods and high craftsmanship, strongly reflected in the outlook of the Société des Artistes Décorateurs, a significant force at the Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels of 1925, was somewhat downplayed in 1937. The more progressive Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM, established 1929), with its manifesto commitment to L'Art moderne cadre de la vie contemporaine, had the ear of the Ministry of Education. As a result, the outlook at Paris 1937 was more attuned to a Modernist outlook embracing new materials, technologies, and the realities of industrial production. Nonetheless, despite this intended affirmation of the harmonious coexistence of art and technology in everyday life, the exhibition was dominated by the desire of many exhibiting countries to assert their national identity in the politically turbulent atmosphere in the years immediately prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. In particular, the displays inside the two dramatically facing and dominant pavilions of Germany (designed by Albert Speer) and the USSR laid considerable stress on national industrial and technological achievements alongside the heritage of vernacular traditions in the design of the indigenous domestic environment. The Italian Pavilion also sought to promote the benefits of living under Mussolini through one of the largest foreign displays. Popular and folk art was featured in more than 60 pavilions at the 1937 exhibition, although there was a concern on the part of some countries that such work might be seen to represent them as backward-looking nations. Displays of peasant art—seen as the basis for contemporary national styles—were to be found in the Hungarian, Romanian, Polish, and Portuguese Pavilions. The French colonies also afforded the opportunity for the display of folk arts. Acknowledging the imperial leanings of France was the large section devoted to the colonies with individual buildings including those devoted to Algeria, Corsica, Guadeloupe, Indochina (with its cratfs shops), Madagascar, Martinique, Morocco (with its Moroccan markets), and Tunisia. However, France's commitment to her colonies appeared less vibrant than had been the case at the large-scale Paris International Colonial exhibition of 1931.

The Paris 1937 exhibition was larger than any of its predecessors. In addition to the traditional landmarks of the Paris exhibition site, such as the Eiffel Tower, was a new building by Carlu, Boileau, and Azéma—the Palais de Chaillot—replacing the old Palais du Trocadéro. Also new for the exhibition was the art gallery, Les Musées d'Art Moderne, designed in neoclassical style. French commitment to arts and technology as an expression of contemporary life was embodied in the architecture and the façade of the Pavillon de la Publicité by René Herbst (1891-1982). This was seen as an affirmation of the increasingly significant role that advertising was playing in an increasingly consumerist society. Herbst, a founder member of UAM, had also played an important role in the organization of the 1937 exhibition and also secured for the UAM its own pavilion. Very much a part of the portrayal of modern technologies was the Palais de l'Air with frescoes by Robert Delaunay and Albert Gleizes in the Aeronautical Hall. Also stressing modernity in everyday life were the Palais de la Radio and pavilions devoted to cinema, various forms of transport, and materials (including plastics and aluminium). There were also large screen demonstrations of Cinemascope projected onto a giant screen. Robert Mallet-Stevens, another prominent UAM member, designed a number of pavilions including those of Electricity (with Pingusson), National Solidarity, Tobacco, Hygiene (with Coulon), and the Coffees of Brazil. Le Corbusier, whose Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau had caused such controversy at the Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels in 1925, also contributed a Pavillon de Temps Nouveau in 1937. Erected at the eleventh hour it took the form of a blue and white tent.

In addition to the national pavilions already mentioned, a number of pavilions were Modernist in style, including those of Japan (by Junzo Sakakura, a follower of Le Corbusier), Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. The latter was designed by Alvar Aalto and contained a comprehensive display of Finnish modern design, including a wide range of Aalto's wooden furniture and glass. However, just as the USSR, German, and Italian Pavilions were strong propagandists for the Fascist cause, the modernist Pavilion of the Spanish Republic by Josep Lluis Sert represented a strong anti-Fascist statement in its stress on art and culture as powerful expressions of a free and democratic county. It contained Picasso's powerful painting of Guernica—an indictment of the German bombing of Spain in support of Franco. Britain distanced herself from the more propagandist outlook of a number of countries through the displays in her moderne British Pavilion designed by Oliver Hill. The exhibits, selected by the Council for Art and Industry, had a strong commitment to a British way of life with a considerable emphasis on sporting traditions and ‘fair play’. There was an impressive display of equipment for a wide range of sports including tennis, cricket, golf, fishing, and football. The countryside was also a dominant theme, with photo-murals on portraying rural agriculture, village cricket, cathedrals, country houses, and landscapes. There was even a display of a Weekend House by Gordon Russell, although its furnishings were contemporary in style, as were the contents of a number of other displays including a kitchen by Dorothy Braddell.