The Exhibition in Paris in 1937: Art and the Struggle for French Identity

The Exposition Internationale International des arts et techniques dans la vie moderne in Paris in 1937 was destined to depict unity, consensus and prosperity, in the face of prevailing conditions to the contrary. Yet its programme for the Exposition Internationale was marked by an absence of architectural uniformity, of any discernible style, modern or otherwise, which might have spoken of France with an eloquence equal to the idioms employed by its rivals. Three exhibitions of art subsequently organised in conjunction with, but to varying degrees on the periphery of the Exposition proper, saw the host nation instead draw upon a traditional strength: art, neither as subservient to function, nor limited to temporal use, but as an absolute value, art as the true vehicle of its national identity. The Chefs-d’œuvre de l’art français at the newly constructed Palais de Tokio; the Maîtres de l’art indépendant at the Petit Palais; and the Origines et développement de l’art international indépendant at the Musée du Jeu de Paume collectively assembled and displayed close to 3,000 works of art in a celebration of the French Tradition. While housed in separate institutions and presented by different⎯competing⎯administrative bodies, what emerges is the way in which politics and national sentiment exercised a common and consuming influence over the selection of artworks and the representation of artists in each exhibition.status: publishe