Herbert, James D., 1959-

Paris 1937 : worlds on exhibition / James D. Herbert.

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, 1998.

xiv, 207 pages : illustrations ; 27 cm

This book, illustrated with forty-five photographs, explores the cultural significance of six exhibitions or new museum installations, all opening in Paris between mid-1937 and early 1938: the commercially oriented world's fair titled L'Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques; the historical Musee des Monuments Francais; the ethnographic Musee de l'Homme; two massive art retrospectives, one sponsored by the state of France and the other by the municipality of Paris; and L'Exposition Internationale du Surrealisme.
James D. Herbert capitalizes on the proximity of these disparate exhibits to show how they competed with and yet also complemented one another in visually rendering the full scope of human accomplishment through time and across the globe. In this task, Herbert argues, they both succeeded and failed in interesting and productive ways. He asserts that the exhibitions projected and, in a sense, created (created precisely through the act of projection) the real world that they ostensibly only represented.
In fact, Herbert argues, the exhibitions developed a particular sense of French national identity - one that, in managing to be at the same moment both inwardly focused and beneficently expansive, would present a vivid contrast to the growing German nationalism of the Third Reich. His epilogue takes a final look at these issues from the perspective of Jean Cocteau's 1950 film Orphee.

0801434947 (cloth ; alk. paper)
9780801434945 (cloth ; alk. paper)

Exposition internationale des arts et techniques dans la vie moderne. 1937 Paris.
Exposition internationale (1937 : Paris, France)
Exposition internationale
Art, Modern 20th century Exhibitions History.
Art Exhibitions History 20th century.
Ethnological museums and collections France History.
Exhibitions France History 20th century.
Surrealism France Exhibitions History 20th century.
Art and society France History 20th century.
Art 20e siècle Expositions Histoire.
Art Expositions Histoire 20e siècle.
Ethnologie Musées et collections France Histoire.
Surréalisme France Expositions Histoire 20e siècle.
Art et société France Histoire 20e siècle.
Expositions France Histoire 20e siècle.
20.13 art exhibitions.
Art and society
Art Exhibitions
Art, Modern Exhibitions
Ethnological museums and collections
Exhibitions
Tentoonstellingen.
Exhibitions France Paris 20th century.
Surrealism France Exhibitions History.
Expositions artistiques.
Expositions France 20e siècle.
France
1937-1938

History
Books.

Paris nineteen thirty-seven

Location: Library main 180551
Call No.: ID T805 1937; ID:98-B933
Status: Available