Paris 1900: The 'American School' at the Universal Exposition

by Diane P. Fischer (Editor)

By the turn of the century, Americans believed that they deserved their own “school” of art—not simply because they produced quality work, but also because they assumed they were predestined to inherit the mantle of western civilization. In the wake of the Spanish-American War, the U.S. had emerged as a genuine political superpower. The Exposition universelle et international de Paris of 1900—the largest international cultural event in terms of attendance until the New York World’s Fair of 1964—was the perfect vehicle for Americans to promote all the richness of a vibrant American culture.            Paris 1900 examines the campaign orchestrated by the federally-sponsored U.S. Department of Fine Arts to prove the existence of a distinct “American school” of art, responding to earlier  French criticism that American art was primarily a reflection of the French style. At the 1900 Parisian fair, the McKinley administration’s crusade involved installing paintings which exuded “American character,” such as images of virile men, wholesome women, pristine landscapes, and technologically supreme cities. Paintings by still-powerful American expatriates were also Exhibiting only native themes would have smacked of a provincialism inconsistent with the administration’s imperialist agenda.          This campaign was successful; American painters were lavished with medals, and critics enthusiastically sanctioned an “Ecole Américaine,” as it was to be known in the next century. Yet the legacy of this exposition has remained unnoticed—until now. With its lucid articles and beautiful illustrations, this book examines how the 1900 exposition functioned as a bridge to the twentieth century, creating the conditions for the emergence of the American urban realism and modernism, as well as for New York to eventually displace Paris as the center of the art world.          Featuring over 140 color and black-and-white illustrations, Paris 1900 is a companion volume for a major exhibition of over 80 paintings, sculptures, and decorative art objects to be displayed at the Montclair Art Museum, which opens in September 1999, before traveling to museums in Philadelphia, Columbus, Ohio, and Paris.

Genres: Art History, Art

232 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1999

Reviews

[CD · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rare gem in the annals of art exhibit catalogs. Well written meaningful expositions on the centenary anniversary art show of the 1900 'World's Fair' in Paris. Held at the Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey beginning in the fall of 1999 through January 2000, then traveling and eventually winding up its run in Paris mid-May 2001, this exhibit revisits the formative moment in the birth of an "American School of Art".

History meets art meets business meets politics circa 1900 and brought back to present day memory by a group of obviously gifted Art Historians and educators with the aid of a fine museum. The contributors to the show ranged from other museums to individuals and trusts that generously provided works including sculpture as well as the obvious paintings.

The five main essays cover the collections from both historical relevance and importance to the development of distinctly American Art. The final essay well examines the continuing legacy and how this show and the exposure it brought to America, primed the pump for the explosion in art in the 1940's and beyond in the United States.

The American Century article is fascinating and succinct in it's examination of the various World's Fairs before and after the 1900 show and America's changing role in the world. America was setting in motion becoming a main player in the World economy and evolving from being a market to being a supplier to the world. The beginning of the American Century from an interesting viewpoint is explored elegantly with long forgotten references from Adams to Carnegie about the new world post Reconstruction and after the 'splendid success of the America in the Spanish-American War'. Historians of all interests will find this article entertaining with or without love or interest in art.

The main foundation articel, 'Constructing the "American School of 1900" ', is one of the more coherent writings about emergence of a movement or school of art in this format that has emerged in many years. It is chronologically well ordered, visually supported and illustrated for all levels of interest and expertise from the neophyte to serious art lover to academic.

A fine collection by curators and art academicians who know their topic and trade. They more than phoned this one in, they obviously enjoyed tremendously this show and the commentary to the same in the preface and intro are not merely polite puffery.