Universal exhibitions are emblems of progress,
models of classification, but also symbols of the transformations underway
in the world of production or the city in the 19th century.
After the medieval fairs, then those of the modern era, with St. Bartholome in
London or the St. Germain fair or the St. Laurent fair in Paris, we see the birth,
from the 18th century, of the desire to promote research science through exhibitions.
The ideal doesn't stop there, soon its makes these great progress fairs an
object of national promotion which presents itself as a hobby for a crowd that comes
in droves. These universal exhibitions make you dream. They want to concentrate there all that's best,
but even more, all that they'll do best in the future. Its draws an ideal,
a horizon of expectation and, as its says today: The Sky is the limit!
Let's go, today on History will tell us, the universal exhibitions in the 19th century.
National exhibitions are born, notably in July 1798, in France.
A public presentation of the "useful arts" produced by the Nation is announced. Everything is
part of the "National Holidays" program which commemorates the founding of the Republic anniversary.
This model remains in particular during the 1801 exhibition on the Champs de Mars.
The Louvre will then host these events in 1819, 1823 and 1827.
The invention of materials, new technologies
and the flowering of the decorative arts arouses such curiosity that the
government decides to present "National Exhibitions" every 5 years.
The July Monarchy conforms to the model in 1834 by presenting this type
of event in its turn, which quickly goes beyond the capital borders.
Other European exhibitions followed, such as those in Bern or Madrid in 1845,
Brussels and Bordeaux in 1847, St. Petersburg in 1848, and Lisbon in 1849.
In England, the experience was closely linked to the Royal Society of Arts. Founded in 1754, its purpose
is to encourage industrial and commercial activities. In 1756, it organized the first
industrial and agricultural exhibition which, from 1761, became annual and lasted 15 days.
The British government then began buying collections of exhibits to
collect it at Somerset House for educational use. From 1847,
the Exhibitions acquired a national dimension and remarkable proportions.
The 1848 London Exhibition brought together more than 700 objects and had 73,000 visitors,
but the first international exhibition that made a strong impression was that
of London in 1851: the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations.
The goal is to exhibit and promote an industry then unrivaled.
By putting the national economy on a pedestal,
they also want to affirm the power of the country and the Empire both for the British,
associating a spectacular educational dimension, but also for foreigners, who must be
impressed by the degree of refinement of British technology and economy.
In 1851, Prince Albert, in his inaugural speech, insisted on the importance of
modern inventions, the improvement of working methods and instruments as well as the
dissemination of the principle of the division of labour. If the economic aspect of the event
appears at first glance, that of scientific and technical popularization
expresses a direct filiation between industrial and social progress.
They want to develop the taste of the middle classes and morally elevate working class circles.
It was also on the occasion of this first exhibition that Thomas
Cook became a real leisure entrepreneur by bringing nearly 165,000
people out of the 6 million who attended the Exhibition.
Its also takes advantage of the Exhibition to praise the merits of the Empire.
Of the 7,000 British exhibitors, many are from the colonies,
showing that the hold of the British on the planet is great. The buildings that
receive the other 7,000 exhibitors from all over the world are built in Hyde Park,
where the Crystal Palace is erected, a building of 400 tons of glass and 4,000 tons of metal.
The exhibition was a total success, England won 46% of the medals, relegating France
to second place, which didn't fail to pique the pride of Napoleon III who intended to do better.
The company of 1851 was profitable, but that of 1862, also in London, was loss-making,
causing Great Britain to withdraw from the game. France then took over.
London gave the definitive model. In terms of the Universal Exhibition,
with the barracks which are now removable or permanent buildings,
the stands which present not only industrial and technical objects,
but also a growing number of novelties as well as a vast and neat exhibition park.
The Parisian exhibition of 1855, but especially that of 1867 then reflected the Second Empire
at its peak. It's organized, among others, by the sociologist Le Play and the economist
Michel Chevalier. The latter intend to promote, and I quote:
"the moral development of the workers"; productivity must also be worker pride.
At the same time, the French capital becomes a showcase of modernity. Through
a massive mechanical production and flourishing industrial development, entire neighborhoods appear.
The great works of Haussmann make it possible to reveal the city as a land of leisure
with its boulevards and perspectives, its opera, its squares, its gardens which allow the
cabs to circulate, an urban vegetation to walk along the shaded roads.
Places of entertainment, shop windows with their posters and signs are
multiplying; the emphasis is on comfort, entertainment and luxury.
The new bourgeois art of living is based on a fortune, codes and the awareness of being
or appearing to be conqueror. Paris, with the "Electricity fairy", as it's called,
is transformed and becomes a perpetual party: sounds, lights and images follow one another.
The 1867 exhibition perfectly embodied the new urban aesthetics and it was on the Champs de Mars,
completely refurbished, the events were held. At the heart of the composition,
stands the Palais de l'Exposition which concentrates the majority of the products presented.
From the 1870s, the educational and moral project gave way to the culture of
leisure which defined and supported the desire for entertainment of
an increasingly numerous public of consumers: 5 million in 1855, 11 million in 1867,
16 million in 1878, 32 million in 1889, more than 50 million in 1900 and 31 million in 1937.
But back to the 19th. In 1867, Le Play deplored, and I quote: "the amusing and childish side,
this mixture of bazaars, shows and fairground stalls which attracts the crowd
only by diverting it from all thought of study and which gives it a vulgar seduction”.
The target audience is now the "spectator-buyer", the one who,
after going to a football match, frequents the department stores, goes to the Exhibition in order to be entertained and to buy.
The 1889 Exhibition is turned towards the centenary of the
Revolution and it's undoubtedly the most political of the exhibitions; it wants to prove the advantages
of the revolution commemorating less the past than progress, it projects itself into History.
Monuments and pavilions proclaim loud and clear the triumph of human invention
by devoting new energy and new materials: electricity and iron.
The Galerie des Machines, showcase of the Exhibition is the culmination of a series of records in
terms of metal construction, in particular with its interior space of 115 by 420 meters,
i.e., an area of 79,000 m2, including 48,000 for the nave alone.
The iron isn't masked, it's magnified. Several architects then criticized
this approach to a raw material and these same criticisms were unleashed
against the most emblematic monument of the Exhibition, the Eiffel Tower.
Gustave Eiffel then plans to compete against with the established elite by building an all-iron tower.
His project is to erect an iron structure consisting of two essential elements,
namely a stool-shaped base resting on four linked piles,
oriented on the cardinal points, extended to the platform
of the 2nd floor, as well as an upper pylon anchored on this base.
The height of the building is impressive: 300.65 m, a peak never reached,
but the speed of the construction site is even crazier: less than 26 months. For some,
including Charles Garnier, Alexandre Dumas Jr., Emile Zola, Charles Gounod and Guy de Maupassant,
it became an insult to good taste, which didn't prevent the latter, Guy de Maupassant,
from often going to the restaurant of the first floor,
"it's the only place in the city where I don't see her", declared Maupassant to a journalist.
Compared to a factory pipe under construction, to a carcass waiting to be filled with cut stone,
deemed dangerous, useless and monstrous, it appears as an aggression. For Eiffel,
the financial risk is great, but the balance sheet is exceptional. At the closing of the Exposition,
the engineer had regained his stake in addition to the proceeds of the following year which were due to him.
The phenomenon of the Expositions designed as amusement parks culminates with that of
1900. Its admires the two-speed moving sidewalks, the Wallace fountains or even the
popular restaurants, the exotic shows and the cinema sessions on the big screen in addition
to the first metro line linking Porte de Vincennes to Porte Maillot, with
art nouveau entrances by Hector Guimard. The 1600-seater Ferris wheel is one of the most popular.
Édouard Lockroy can only observe that, and I quote: "the fair has turned into a party".
Sport also enters in its turn into the great
patriotic and commercial promotional round that these events constitute. As part of the
Universal Exhibition of 1900, multiple sporting events were offered
during the "International Competitions for Physical Exercises and Sports".
Alongside football, rugby, gymnastics, horse riding, cycling, motor racing,
sailing yacht, archery, but also angling, pigeon racing,
aerostation -balloon races-, basketball, croquet, lawn-tennis
and tennis, let's say we have the choice of our activities and to see different sports.
This program, which then also served as the general calendar for the second
Olympic Games, which we'll talk about eventually, don't worry,
then ran from May 14 to October 14, 1900. Here, for one of the last times, some ancient practices meet
and freshly codified sports.
In 1904, the city of San Luis in the United States took up the same concept,
combining the Universal Exhibition and the Olympic Games. Leisure and sports combine to provide
entertainment for as many people as possible. Its also takes advantage of the 20 million visitors to offer
food that adapts to the footsteps of walkers, who notably survey the place with hamburgers,
hot dogs, iced tea, cotton candy, and even the shape of the ice-cream cone.
These food creations will soon take over the world and adapt to the culture of fast consumption
of ready-to-eat products. Beer will also benefit from the great brewing of nations,
there are 88 exhibiting brewers in 1878, from France, Belgium and the United States,
while in 1889, it's reachs the figure of 240 exhibitors from 26 different countries.
The globalization of consumption diversifies the offer and allows
the beer manufacturing industry to become more and more refined. The Universal Exhibitions allow the public
to taste different products and to exercise their choice by establishing their preferences.
Paris and London aren't the only cities to organize such events,
they too are going global. Among the most famous are New York in 1853,
Vienna in 1873, Sydney in 1879, Antwerp in 1885, Barcelona in 1888, Prague in 1891,
Chicago in 1893, Brussels in 1897, or Rio de Janeiro in 1929.
Care is then taken to prepare for the arrival of visitors from all over the world, in
particular with the publication of tourist guides.
From a model for promoting industry and technology, exhibitions thus become
enslaved to the mass culture that defines new commercial logics. The latter
have also been transformed through contact with department stores, which are creating
mass consumption through new devices to present and sell products.
Come on, that's it for today. I hope you liked it,
and if not, you can comment, share, bring the video to life.
I'm Laurent Turcot from History will tell us and I'll see you
next time. Come on, bye!