1937 Paris International Exposition: Documents

The following documents are intended to be viewed and read in conjunction with my piece ‘Art and Architecture Towards Political Crises: The 1937 Paris International Exposition in Context’. They consist of pictures and videos documenting the Paris exposition; images of prominent artworks connected to and on display during the exposition, including art by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Raoul Dufy, Joan Miró, and Alexander Calder; and exposition memorabilia, in the way of posters, ticket stubs, and maps. There are architectural images, details, and drawings related to the exposition; and pictures and plans depicting the course of those grandiose architectural projects devised through the 1930s by Boris Iofan and Albert Speer – the chief architects, respectively, of Stalin’s Soviet Union and Hitler’s Nazi Germany. More, I have included Paul Éluard’s 1938 poem ‘La Victoire de Guernica’ (‘The Victory of Guernica’); and Alain Resnais’s 1950 film short, Guernica.

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ParisExposition1937Open — The opening of the 1937 Paris International Exposition

The_Trocadero,_Exposition_Universal,_1900,_Paris,_France — The old Palais du Trocadéro

5599097_f1024 — Pablo Picasso – Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

l-24s1v40hcukiyy — French poster advertising the exposition

Exposition internationale de 1937 — Entry ticket for the international exposition

Paris1937-3 — Official guide book for the exposition, costing 3 francs

expo-1937-map-paris — A map of the exposition

84.1.5 REVERSE — Commemorative coin, with the full title of the exposition

ParisAir — The exposition’s Palais de l’Air. Audoul, Hartwig, and Gérodias were the architects, while Delaunay and Aublet designed the interior.

transport-forces-1937 — Fernand Léger – Le transport des forces

raouldufy4 — Raoul Dufy – La Fée Electricité

pleasure_tower — Illustration, with details, of the proposed Phare du Monde

fig 2 udoviki — The pavilions in the context of the Jardins du Trocadéro, with the Palais de Chaillot in the background

joan_miro_the_reaper_photograph (1) — Joan Miró working on The Reaper

miro-calder-mercury-fountain — Alexander Calder’s Mercury Fountain, now in the Fundació Miró in Barcelona

1007px-OldMoscow_archive_img07_Christ_Saviour_Cathedral — The original Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, which was consecrated in 1883 and demolished in 1931

KMO_128025_01980_1_t210_193847 — The demolition of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 1931, in preparation for the Palace of the Soviets

PalaceSoviets1 — Illustration for the proposed Palace of the Soviets, comparing its height with built landmarks

The open-air swimming pool – for a time, the largest in the world – which in 1958 took over the site of the unfinished Palace of the Soviets

The new Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, consecrated in 2000

mosfilm — The current logo of the Russian film studio Mosfilm

U_39_134059283733_1275779879_841Soviet_Union_expo_Paris_1937_Mukhina_Worker_and_Kolkhoz_Woman — Coloured illustration of the Soviet pavilion

1313333-Exposition_internationale_Paris_1937 — The Soviet pavilion at night

SovietRussToday37 1 — October, 1937 issue of Soviet Russia Today, featuring Frank Lloyd Wright’s article ‘Architecture and Life in the USSR’

Nazi_party_rally_grounds_(1934) — The Nazi party rally grounds at Nuremberg

Lichtverschmutzung-Nuernberg-Reichsparteitag-Lichtdom — The Cathedral of Light at Nuremberg: 130 anti-aircraft searchlights shone into the night sky

Speer_German_Pavilion_1937 — Nazi Germany’s pavilion lit at night

28942-184622-adde475ba127779f81c29833184b7f41 — The sickle from Worker and Kolkhoz Woman preparing to be hoisted into place

The Marble Gallery of the New Reich Chancellery

Speer’s design for the interior of the proposed Volkshalle

The proposed Prachtstrasse for Berlin, with Triumphbogen and Volkshalle

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‘La Victoire de Guernica’

Beau monde des masures

De la nuit et des champs

Visages bons au feu visages bons au fond

Aux refus à la nuit aux injures aux coups

III

Visages bons à tout

Voici le vide qui vous fixe

Votre mort va servir d’exemple

La mort coeur renversé

Ils vous ont fait payer le pain
Le ciel la terre l’eau le sommeil
Et la misère
De votre vie

Ils disaient désirer la bonne intelligence
Ils rationnaient les forts jugeaient les fous
Faisaient l’aumône partageaient un sou en deux
Ils saluaient les cadavres
Ils s’accablaient de politesses

VII

Ils persévèrent ils exagèrent ils ne sont pas de notre monde

VIII

Les femmes les enfants ont le même trésor
De feuilles vertes de printemps et de lait pur
Et de durée
Dans leurs yeux purs

Les femmes les enfants ont le même trésor
Dans les yeux
Les hommes le défendent comme ils peuvent

Les femmes les enfants ont les mêmes roses rouges
Dans les yeux
Chacun montre son sang

La peur et le courage de vivre et de mourir
La mort si difficile et si facile

XII

Hommes pour qui ce trésor fut chanté
Hommes pour qui ce trésor fut gâché

XIII

Hommes réels pour qui le désespoir
Alimente le feu dévorant de l’espoir
Ouvrons ensemble le dernier bourgeon de l’avenir

XIV

Parias la mort la terre et la hideur
De nos ennemis ont la couleur
Monotone de notre nuit
Nous en aurons raison.

(Paul Éluard, Cours Naturel, 1938)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_da3eciNlpE

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