Paris Exposition Universelle
(1900)
The main purpose of the international 1900 Paris exhibition, like a number of its predecessors and successors, was to proclaim French pre-eminence in the decorative arts, in this case Art Nouveau, which had proliferated internationally in the preceding decade. One of the organizers' main objectives had been to stress the continuity between French cultural achievements of the past and those of the present day. Such a perspective was underlined by the contents of the Pavilion of the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs (UCAD) containing the work of leading French ateliers and designers such as Hector Guimard, Louis Majorelle, and Émile Gallé. Another noted Pavilion was that of Samuel Bing, whose Parisian Gallery, L'Art Nouveau, had given its name to the movement. His six-roomed Pavilion displayed furnishings and decorations by French designers, most notably Georges du Feure, Eugène Gaillard, and Édouard Colonna. Also prominent among the displays were the French manufacturers of decorative arts, including Sèvres Porcelain with designs by Guimard and others, and the Gobelins Tapestryworks. An emphatically modern characteristic of the Exposition was the widespread use of electricity for the fountains of the Château d'Eau and the Pavilion d'Électricité.
