World Exhibitions in Paris. History of World Exhibitions (Many photos) Exhibition of 1900 in Paris Russian pavilion
The World Exhibition brought the French treasury an income of 7 million francs. More than 76 thousand participants took part in the exhibition, the exhibition area was 1.12 km².
At the 1900 World's Fair, sound films and escalators were presented to the public for the first time, and Campbell Soup was awarded a gold medal (it is still depicted on a can of soup to this day).
Rudolf Diesel presented to the visitors of the exhibition a diesel engine running on rapeseed oil.
An exhibition in Paris in 1900 was visited by about 50 million people
Many panoramic paintings and new panoramic techniques were also presented, such as the sineorama, the mareorama and the Trans-Siberian Railway Panorama.
The focus at the Palace of Illusions was a telescope with a lens diameter of 1.25 m, which allows you to see the moon from a distance of one meter. This telescope was the largest of all created at that time. The eyepiece of the telescope was 60 m long and 1.5 m in diameter.
And the press spoke enthusiastically about the Russian department. The gold medal of the exhibition was awarded by a special committee headed by Gustav Eiffel to the Russian engineer Lavr Proskuryakov for the Krasnoyarsk railway bridge. The French press unanimously noted the "tremendous growth of Russian industry" and Russia's "incredible progress" in all branches of art and industry.
At previous World Exhibitions, Russia was poorly represented, but at the 1900 exhibition, the government decided to demonstrate the technical power of Russia as fully as possible.
Thanks to the special friendly relations between Russia and France, the largest exposition area was allocated for the Russian department - 24,000 m². Russia spent 5,226,895 rubles on participation in the exhibition (of which the government allocated 2,226,895 rubles, and institutions and exhibitors 3,000,000 rubles).
Russia spent 5,226,895 rubles to participate in the 1900 exhibition
D. I. Mendeleev, who was vice-president of the International Jury, took an active part in the work of the exhibition.
→ 1900
Politics and culture
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Main event of the year
World Exhibition in Paris. Panorama of the Champ de Mars from the gallery of the Trocadero Palace
1900
View of part of the World's Fair from the bridge on the Seine
Paris, 1900
Zhivago Foundation, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin, Moscow
The World Exhibition in Paris, which surpassed all previous exhibitions not only in France, but also anywhere else (they were held on various continents, but mainly in Western Europe), was certainly the main event of the year. She captured the eyes of the whole world and provoked the arrival of an unprecedented number of tourists in the country: from April to November, 50,860,801 people visited France - more than its entire population.
Subway entrance on Boulevard Pasteur in Paris, designed by Hector Guimard
OK. 1900
Roger-Viollet / East News
In July, the first metro line opened in Paris, a triumph of technology and art (the entrances to the metro, sophisticated from a decorative point of view, were decorated in the Art Nouveau style according to the designs of Hector Guimard). It is now possible to travel from one end of Paris to the other in just 25 minutes instead of an hour and a half.
Impressive buildings appeared on both sides of the Seine. On the left bank is the Orsay Station, which, after more than seven decades, as a result of a major internal reconstruction, became the Musée d'Orsay, the main center of art of the 19th century. On the right bank grew the Grand and Petit Palaces (Grand Palais and Petit Palais), from which the bridge of Alexander III was thrown across the Seine; its very name was reminiscent of the growing Russian-French ties. These buildings visibly embodied the Belle Epoque - a quarter-century period of French history, abruptly cut off by the outbreak of the First World War.
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World Exhibition in Paris. View of Pont Alexandre III
1900
World Exhibition in Paris. Pont Alexandre III and Esplanade of the Invalides
1900
Zhivago Foundation, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin, Moscow
Among the most notable sights of the exhibition was also the long-forgotten "Parisian", a slightly strange symbol of the great city with large breasts and oriental style, created by the efforts of the sculptor Paul Moreau-Vautier. This five-meter statue with outstretched arms greeting the whole world, which crowned a huge arch in the Place de la Concorde, simply could not survive for a long time, as it was cast from plaster.
World Exhibition in Paris. Sculptures in the central hall of the Grand Palais
1900
Zhivago Foundation, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin, Moscow
The main part of the World Exhibition was devoted to the achievements of industry, but there were also many hundreds of works of art from different countries on display for every taste - from the pompous creations of the masters of the Parisian salons to the paintings of the Impressionists, Georges Seurat and other opponents of official art, receiving citizenship here. (I. S. Ostroukhov was appointed the organizer of the large Russian department of the exhibition of painting). Art lovers and just lovers flocked to Paris from all over the world. The exhibition was visited by many Russian painters and cultural figures, including the Shchukin brothers.
World Exhibition in Paris. French painting at the Grand Palais
1900
Roger-Viollet / East News
Within the framework of the World Exhibition, two expositions were launched, the organizers of which pursued far from the same goals. One exhibition, the Exposition Decennale, focused on works of recent years, did not let the paintings of the Impressionists and their followers into their halls. On the other, the Centenary, the Impressionists could be represented, but only by works performed before 1890 (the century was counted from the Great Revolution). Such orders were achieved by the academic circles of France, who did not want to popularize the latest trends in painting, marked by the paintings of Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne. The paintings of the latter were sent to the Centenary Exhibition by Paul Durand-Ruel, Ambroise Vollard and a number of well-known collectors (14 works by Monet, 7 by Degas, 8 by Alfred Sisley, etc.) Be that as it may, the admission of the Impressionists to the international arena meant their recognition in the eyes of the rest of the world. At that moment, M. A. Morozov and S. I. Shchukin had barely begun to collect new French painting, and I. A. Morozov was just thinking about such an idea, but it was already clear to them that, no matter how their Moscow brothers felt about their hobby according to the merchant class, the path they have chosen is the right one and not so risky. At the same time, one of the Russian pioneers of the new French painting, I. I. Shchukin, on the contrary, sells most of his collection of impressionists in order to completely switch to the old masters.
Young Pablo Picasso
1904
In connection with the exhibiting of his painting at the World Exhibition, for the first time, the young Spaniard Pablo Picasso comes to Paris - and lingers there, closely becoming close to the colony of Spanish modernists who settled in Montmartre: he eagerly absorbs new sharp impressions from the life and art of Paris.
The second future titan of the avant-garde, Henri Matisse, at this time stands on the threshold of radical changes in his destiny. Avoiding the well-trodden and profitable paths offered by the Salon and the Academy of Arts, he first writes in the spirit of impressionism, then he is influenced by the art of Vincent van Gogh, but his paintings do not at all attract either lovers of new painting or marchants: he probably ran too far ahead. In the early 1900s, Matisse was forced to earn a living as a painter, taking part as a day laborer in the decoration of the Grand Palais, a huge, just completed building designed to house paintings and sculptures.
Grand Palais, Paris
1900
Archive of the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin
The alignment of creative forces in the French capital at that time was distinguished by an exceptionally great variety and a tolerance towards any innovations that had significantly increased in a short time, because the World Exhibition of 1900 itself was nothing more than a colossal parade of innovations. The routes of climbing the Parisian artistic Olympus are gradually losing their standardization and legitimacy. Salon benefits and awards are less and less attractive to young artists. On the other hand, adherents of officially approved art are more and more willing to adopt what until recently would have been subjected to the most resolute condemnation by the academic Areopagus. This, in particular, refers to the widespread use of Art Nouveau (modernist) techniques.
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Maurice Denis
Tribute to Cezanne
1900
Canvas, oil. 180 x 240
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Pierre Bonnard
Man and woman
1900
Canvas, oil. 115 x 72.5
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Characteristically, Maurice Denis, one of the luminaries of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, paints a large group portrait "Tribute to Cezanne" (Orsay Museum, Paris), showing his friends reverently listening to the Master from Aix. A shrewd critic, who had an excellent command of not only the brush, but also the word, Denis was well aware of how important a place Paul Cezanne had already occupied in French painting, although he was still very far from wide public recognition.
The Nabis group, to which Maurice Denis belonged, at the same time put forward their most talented masters - Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard. In "Man and Woman" (Musee d'Orsay, Paris), Bonnard simply and boldly addresses the issues of psychology and confrontation between the sexes, which at that time acquired a sharp social sound and worried not only scientists and medical workers, but all thinking people.
The growing understanding of the coloristic foundations of painting leads to the strengthening of the position of neo-impressionism on the Parisian scene, as well as to the release of this style outside of France. Young artists are noticeably attracted by Paul Signac and Henri Edmond Cross.
world population
The year 1900, the final year of the century, by the very logic of reckoning, pushed for a summing up, a comprehensive accounting of various indicators, especially since the 19th century became, at least for Europe, the era of the greatest achievements of civilization. It has been calculated, in particular, that the globe is inhabited by 1617 million people (over the century this figure has grown by 711 million). In 1900, there were 132 million people in Russia, 40 in France, and 76 in the largest country in the Western Hemisphere, the United States.
"Boxer Rebellion"
Soldiers of the Eight Power Alliance and European recruits who suppressed the “Boxer Rebellion” in China
1900
European states, including Russia, began to suppress the "Boxer Rebellion" in China, directed against Western expansion. As a result, an "open door" policy was proclaimed in China.
The first issue of the Iskra newspaper
December 1900
G. V. Plekhanov and V. I. Lenin founded the Marxist newspaper Iskra in exile. The illegal press contributed to the spread of anti-government sentiment in Russia.
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Development of Russia
Bookmark of the Great Siberian way.
Tsesarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich transports a wheelbarrow of earth to the roadbed in Vladivostok in his own Russian.
May 19, 1891
The prisoners are laying a part of the Great Siberian Route.
Late XIX - early XX centuries.
Along with the USA, England, Germany and France, Russia has become one of the leading industrial world powers. The country's financial position remained quite strong: the then ruble was backed by gold and was worth half the US dollar. The Russian railway network developed, a part of the Great Siberian Way was laid, the construction of which began in 1891.
New in the knowledge of the world
1900 is truly a landmark date. The point is not in the magic of a round figure that closes one period and notifies of the onset of a new time, but in the addition of new conditions for the intellectual understanding of the world, under which exact sciences coexist with esoteric fantasies, and rationalism is accompanied by faith in the sacraments. The eve of the next century is the crossroads of the most diverse discoveries in the exact sciences and the humanities, in literature and art. Max Planck, the founder of quantum theory, derives the law of radiation. The era of color photography begins. Edmund Husserl publishes "Logical Investigations", Sigmund Freud - "The Interpretation of Dreams" (Russian translation will appear in 1913), and Henri Bergson - the book "Comic".
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The turn of two centuries of Russian culture
Mikhail Vrubel
City of Candy. Set design for the opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan by Rimsky-Korsakov (detail)
1900
Mikhail Vrubel
The Swan Princess (detail)
1900
Canvas, oil. 142.5 x 93.5
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Russian culture reached the end point of the 19th century with many significant achievements, which, especially in the field of literature and music, stand up to comparison with the highest world standards. A characteristic feature of this period in the development of Russian culture was inclusiveness, syntheticity, universality - with deep attention to the national nature of the chosen theme, image, motive. In 1900, this unique fusion of qualities was demonstrated, in particular, by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, probably not the best creation of this composer, and yet still not lost in importance. "Saltan" was staged at the Moscow Private Opera, designed by M. A. Vrubel. The role of the Swan Princess was performed by the artist's wife N. I. Zabela-Vrubel. Many years later, B.V. Asafiev admired the "exceptional sound-light-colorful imagery" of this performance.
In 1900, the Paris World Exhibition took place, for participation in which Russia spent 5,226,895 rubles. (of which the government allocated 2,226,895 rubles, and institutions and exhibitors 3,000,000 rubles). "The Highest Established Commission" for the preparation of the Russian department was headed by the director of the Department of Trade and Manufactories V.I. Kovalevsky. Prince V.N. Tenishev was appointed General Commissioner of the Russian Department, and R.F. Meltzer was appointed Chief Architect. Among the organizers of the Russian department is the architect O.I.Thibault-Brignolles. In an effort to collect as many interesting exhibits as possible, the Russian government approved a number of benefits for exhibitors: free provision of premises at the exhibition, acceptance at the expense of the treasury of expenses for sending exhibits, insurance on the way, arrangement and decoration of the Russian department ("Draft regulation on the Russian department at the exhibition" , 1897). Particular attention was paid to the interiors of the Russian departments, which are very rich in exhibits, in the common exhibition buildings and in Russia's own pavilions. In order to achieve unity in the artistic design of showcases (for exhibits), their drawing, according to the "Rules for Exhibitors of the Russian Department at the World Exhibition of 1900", had to be submitted "for preliminary consideration and approval by the General Commissioner" for the agreement of the aforementioned drawing with the general plan of the exhibition device " Sometimes they were created in the form of small architectural structures.For example, in the building of Civil Engineering and Means of Transportation (on the Field of Mars), the showcase common to three Russian factories was, as it were, a separate pavilion made of reinforced concrete with a roof on columns, and the showcase of the Moscow Society looked like kiosk "in the Russian style". Sections of the Russian exposition were a composition of natural exhibits, stationary and moving panoramas, dioramas and shop windows. In total, Russia was provided with 24 thousand m 2 of exposition area. Numerous exhibits were divided into 15 groups, each of which covered Grades 9-10. For example, in XII g The group "Decoration, furnishing of buildings and dwellings" contained exhibits of the 66-75th grades: "Window panes", "Wallpaper (raw materials, production techniques and the works themselves)", "Cheap furniture and furniture as a luxury item", "Apparatus and methods of heating and ventilation", etc. In addition to their own departments in the common exhibition buildings, special buildings were built,
where some typical Russian exhibits were placed. These buildings were under construction since May 29, 1899, and among the few other national pavilions, they were ready by the opening day of the exhibition on April 14, 1900. The main among them was considered the Pavilion of the Russian Outskirts, built according to the project of R.F. Meltzer. It had the appearance of a Russian town suddenly found itself in Paris. Bells even rang on one of its towers. The architecture of the pavilion was inspired by the Moscow and Kazan Kremlins. The ensemble was located 43 meters from the Trocadero Palace. The outline of his plan was a trapezoid, and the area totaled 4400 m 2. The highest tower rose almost 47 m and was surrounded by walls with battlements and loopholes. In front and on both sides, separate extension buildings adjoined it. Opposite the main entrance (from the side of the Seine) there was a spacious courtyard, in which, dividing it into two parts, there was a "Siberian" restaurant. In the left corner of the courtyard stood a rotunda stage for musicians. From the courtyard, a view of the hall of Central Asia opened, the entrance to which was decorated "in the Central Asian style" - copied from the portal of the Samarkand mosque. At the main entrance was also the Imperial Pavilion - "Royal Chambers", made in the old Russian style. It was intended for the Highest Persons (members of the royal family) and, together with the reception halls, overlooked the main facade of the Pavilion of the Russian Outskirts. A copy of the old Moscow boyar dwelling with all the furnishings was also located here. Separate rooms in different annex buildings were intended for a large exposition with the main theme "Vehicles". To the right of the central entrance there were exhibits of the Main Department of the Departments: a scientific exhibition (Siberian Railway - maps and models of bridges), the wealth of the Urals and the northern regions (furs, samples of wood and stone, gold, malachite), etc. The Sleeping Car Society demonstrated a train in which, with the help of a moving panorama by the artist P.Ya. Unlike most national pavilions, whose structures consisted of a wooden frame, filled only in the first tier with brick and sheathed with plaster "Mack boards" that imitated stone, the Pavilion of the Russian Outskirts was made of brick. 
The facades of the towers and buildings are whitewashed to look like light brick, finished with stone-like plaster, decorated with colored majolica, tiles on the friezes, various relief details framing the openings, numerous cornices, lacy metal valances. Intricate roofs were made of multi-colored glazed tiles and stamped iron sheets painted in different colors. They were completed with openwork combs, and the tents of the towers were crowned with golden double-headed eagles. The interior decoration was also varied: for example, the vaulted ceiling of the reception hall was covered with gilding and colored ornaments, the interior of the hall had tiled stoves and colored stained-glass windows. In total, in the Pavilion of the Russian Outskirts, which truly became the "highlight" of the Russian department, there were 28 huge panels on themes from the life of the Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia and the Far North. Most of them belonged to the brush of K.A. Korovin. According to the project of the same artist, the architect I.E. Bondarenko built in the style of the buildings of the North of Russia of the 17th century. next to the walls of the Pavilion of the Russian Outskirts, a string of small wooden buildings, called the "Russian Village", where the Handicraft Department was located. There was a hut with an exhibition of women's needlework and other handicrafts, a church in the spirit of northern temples, etc. All the wooden parts were made in Moscow. The carpenters, who arrived as part of a group of Russian workers, surprised me with their ability to manage with an ax in such work, for which the French used a whole range of tools. The State Pavilion of the Military Ministry was erected from a pine forest according to the project of A.I. von Gauguin "in modern Russian taste". Here there was the necessary stylistic "set" of elements from ancient Russian architecture - kokoshniks, jug-shaped columns, windows with weights, tents, carvings. The composition of the building was also asymmetrical and picturesque in the Russian spirit; the role of high-altitude accents here was played by turrets - the central one, crowned with a golden imperial eagle, and two smaller ones, ending with weathercocks. The architectural design of the state pavilion of the Main Directorate of the State Sale of Drinks, built according to the project of V.N. Zeidler on the Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower, was associated more with the motives of the Portuguese "Manueline" (XVI century) than with the images of Russian architecture. This massive stone building (with an area of 300 m 2 ) stood out for its overloaded decor and general unbalanced composition. On the Esplanade of the Invalides was the pavilion of the Institutions of the Empress Maria. A fairly modest wooden building by R. F. Meltsera was spectacular with its central part, clearly confirming the national identity of the entire structure. One of the private Russian buildings was the pavilion of the Popov tea-trading company, also built of wood on the Esplanade of the Invalids according to the project of F.O. Shekhtel. It was distinguished by the graceful outlines of the entrance opening and the decorative arch above it, the beautiful carvings of the chapels and paired columns, the bright coloring of the frieze, a large amount of fabric in the form of canopies over the terrace, awnings, and curtains. In contrast, the private pavilion of the Russian-American Rubber Manufactory, built according to the design of R.F. Meltzer on the Champ de Mars near Suffran Avenue, gave the impression of a heavy monument. 
The buildings of Russia also included the Finnish Pavilion, built according to the project of El. Saarinen on the Quai d'Orsay in the forms of Finnish Art Nouveau. It had a rectangular plan, a steep glazed roof, a high tower multifaceted in plan, a sparing relief ornament framing the arches of the entrance and exit. It housed only a part of the Finnish exhibits, the rest were in groups and classes In addition, state and private pavilions were built at the exhibition: the Nikolaev Physical Observatory, a special pavilion near the general exhibition building of Forestry and Hunting, pavilions for exhibits of the Russian flour-grinding industry, the "Provodnik" Partnership, the cement plant of Smith and Co. o (accommodating a full crushing workshop). Traditionally, Russian cuisine was also presented in two large restaurants and a snack bar. The French press unanimously noted the "tremendous growth of Russian industry" and the "incredible progress" of Russia in all branches of art and industry. Newspaper "liberte" wrote: "In the course of a few years, Russian industry and trade have taken on a development that amazes everyone." The Minister of Industry and Trade of France, Millerand, called our exposition "one of the most interesting attractions at the Paris Labor Day". Thus, if at the previous world exhibitions of 1867-1889. the main emphasis was placed on the exoticism of our architecture, if in 1893 the refined and luxurious eclectic stylization of the Russian pavilion and the solid multi-sector exposition in it and in the general buildings already became the threshold for a qualitative leap, then the exposition and architecture of domestic departments and buildings in 1900, in fact, they represented this jump. The representation of Russia in the quantity and quality of buildings and exhibits faithfully reflected the achievements in the cultural and economic life of the country. Now outlandish for foreign visitors, the appearance of the buildings did not hide, as happened before, the scarcity of the exposition, but rather anticipated a collection of interesting objects. The symbol of the exhibition was the meeting of the new, XX century. The dominant style at the exhibition was Art Nouveau. For seven months, the exhibition was visited by more than 50 million people, which is a record figure to this day. 35 countries presented their expositions in 18 thematic departments. The exhibition ran from April 15 to November 12, 1900. It was visited by over 50 million people (a world record of that time) and brought the French treasury an income of 7 million francs. More than 76 thousand participants took part in the exhibition, the exhibition area was 1.12 km².
In 1900, the government of the Russian Empire decided to demonstrate the technical power of the country as fully as possible. The Parisians agreed and allocated more than 24,000 m² to Russia for the exposition. However, in the end, even this area turned out to be not enough.
Based on memoirs and letters, the article shows the contradictory impressions of Russian visitors from the World Exhibitions in Paris in 1889 and 1900, which became the most visited and where the achievements of Russian culture were most vividly presented.
In the second half of the XIX century. The prototypes of modern biennials, international economic forums and festivals were the World Exhibitions. From the moment of its first convocation in 1851, the World Exhibitions of Commerce, Industry and the Arts began to gain more and more popularity and prestige - they were called "meetings of peoples".
Thanks to the nascent PR institute and professional advertising, it was possible to make a presentation of the organization and its products, to strengthen its competitive position in its own country and in the world. At the World Exhibitions, not only competed, but also communicated, made deals, exchanged technologies and entered into long-term cooperation. The interest of Russian entrepreneurs, specialists, high-ranking officials, journalists and ordinary people in the "dating of peoples" was very high. Each such exhibition was accompanied by international congresses, at which a wide variety of topics were discussed.
For the partner states of that time, the participation of national industry in the World Exhibitions became an important means of solving foreign policy problems. However, the main thing was that hundreds of thousands of visitors could get acquainted with the way of life, the achievements of different countries and peoples, in particular, Russia, which still remained an exotic country for many. Thousands of tourists, professionals, travelers and just curious people were attracted by the results of scientific and industrial activities: machines, rare handicrafts, colonial goods, as well as the atmosphere of an international holiday: “ <...>The streets are especially busy, - wrote a visitor to the Exhibition of 1889, artist M.V. Nesterov, - what peoples you will not see here: Arabs in their costumes, and Negroes, mulattos, Indians».
The Crimean War made it impossible for Russia to participate in the first Paris World Exhibition in 1855. O. von Bismarck wrote that at its height - August 15, 1855 (Napoleon I's birthday) - Russian prisoners were escorted through the streets of Paris. However, subsequently Russia participated in the World Exhibitions in Paris in 1867, 1878, 1889 and 1900. The World Exhibitions of 1889 and 1900 deserve special attention, at which our country was most vividly represented.
If the World Exhibition of 1867 was, according to N.M. Shchapov, a symbol of "a triumphant, but not a strong empire", then the exhibition of 1889 - "a triumphant and proved to be a strong republic". On the first day it was visited by about 500 thousand people. The coincidence of the exhibition with the anniversary of the Great French Revolution, as well as internal Russian events (the struggle of the tsarist government against the revolutionaries) led to the refusal of the Russian government to officially participate in its work. Therefore, the exposition of Russia was mainly compiled by the efforts and at the expense of interested enterprises, institutions and individuals. Everything that was connected with Russia was very popular and the Russians were treated with great sympathy here: “ <...>Russians are honored here. Recently I was at the exhibition of Pasteur and Charcot (I think), - wrote M. V. Nesterov, - they were greeted, at that time they saw a Russian student, they immediately picked him up, began to shake and exclamations - “Long live Russia and long live France!” - announced the Exhibition, and often similar stories can be found here» . One of the most visited and impressive pavilions was the "Palace of Machines" ("some kind of hell", in the words of M.V. Nesterov), where new models of equipment were demonstrated.
The Russian pavilion at the exhibition in Paris looked more like a small city. It was built in the Russian style and in many of its features (towers, hipped roofs, battlements, patterned windows and porches) resembled the Moscow Kremlin. Kustarnaya Street was rebuilt nearby with typical Russian mansions, huts and a rural wooden church. The main attention in the extensive exposition was given to the ethnography of the so-called outskirts - Siberia, the Far North, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.
Visiting Russian artists, such as M. V. Nesterov, were primarily interested in the French department of painting: “ <...>... seventeen rooms. Here are all the best things in France, many of them have received worldwide fame. All this at first stuns, the brilliance surprises, the courage is extraordinary, you walk like a child, your legs give way from fatigue, and everything is new and new ahead ...<...>But all this is good, beautiful, original, but not brilliant, and among the French there are geniuses who turned everything upside down. Not a single nation left them, starting from us, the sinners, ending with the Americans. The first and greatest of modern Frenchmen, in my opinion, is Bastien-Lepage. Each of his things is an event, it is a whole volume of wisdom, kindness and poetry» .
As for the exposition of the Russian department of fine arts, according to M.V. Nesterov, it was not the most successful: “Here is the Russian department is shameful,” he wrote to his relatives. However, many works enjoyed attention, for example, paintings by K.E. Makovsky, who received a gold medal here.
The highlight of the Exhibition was the Eiffel Tower, erected on the Champ de Mars, a metal bright red three-tier structure 305 m high - “Jules Verne's fairy tale”. She, towering over the Exhibition, like “a giant over small guys”, shocked both the French and foreigners: “ In the evening we went to Notre Dame de Paris, on the way we still saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance. She, like a pillar in the sky, is covered with fog from below, only her top is clearly visible with an electric lamp..". Her illumination was striking, as, indeed, of the entire Exhibition: “ <...>a particularly grandiose view of the Trocadero. It was filled with fire, the Eiffel tower was all red, like hot jelly. Fountains were launched and beat with multi-colored water: either green, or purple, or red, or iridescent - beautiful and majestic» .
Anyone could climb the tower, and other equally extreme services were also offered: “ <...>not yet
I decided, - wrote V. M. Vasnetsov, - maybe I would prefer to climb (for the same price of 5 francs) on a ball, you will be a few arshins higher than the tower, and they will give a diploma that they flew, they say, with their own person at 400 meters from the earth» .
The so-called “Russian hut of the 15th century” was at the service of hungry visitors, where a certain Dmitry Filimonovich, a Ufa merchant, was trading: “ <...>Outside there is black bread, samovars, inside it is covered with kumach, and on the shelves there are Russian wooden utensils, and on the table there is a large samovar.<...>Groups of curious people come up to the hut and look like they are at the dwelling of savages, smile and move on.» . In the "Russian izba" one could try traditional Russian dishes: cabbage soup, porridge, tea. So, M. V. Nesterov, to the surprise of French women, drank five glasses of tea and left "as if nothing had happened." .
At the exhibition of 1889, France, as they say, suppressed all other countries, exhibiting, in comparison with them, much more quality goods. However, in the Russian department there was something to brag about " <...>the chintz of Baranov and Morozov, the silk and brocade of Sapozhnikov, the silver of Khlebnikov and Ovchinnikov are good. From technical news, they tried the telephone - the opera was transmitted to the exhibition from a distance of 5 kilometers. The crematorium was also news» . At the exhibition, they admired “silk, velvet, furniture, bronze, porcelain, artificial flowers, velvet dresses (“clouding of the mind”), and finally, the engine room, where all the machines worked, and the public looked at them from the slowly moving bridge under the roof; luminous fountains (“how beautiful they are and it’s impossible to tell<...>""). The Russians rejoiced at the kaleidoscope of impressions, for which, in fact, they came: “ <...>what you will not see - and the dance of the Almeis from Algeria, and the Chinese theater in the Annam department, and the gallop of ragged Cairo boys on white donkeys. We also tried oriental coffee and all sorts of other things you can see here» .
The Paris World Exhibition of 1900 summed up the end of the century, surpassing all previous Exhibitions in cost and splendor. Outwardly, it looked "unsightly", "huge" and "stretched for many miles." The architecture was reminiscent of the "Garden of Nemetti" - a theater in St. Petersburg, founded by actress V. A. Linskaya-Nemetti. In order to attract the public and profitability, numerous places of amusement and entertainment were arranged on the territory of the Exhibition, for example, a Ferris wheel with a diameter of 93 m, a large telescope, a giant globe and much more. Opened in July 1900, the Paris Metro became one of the original and curious exhibits for French and foreign visitors.
Russia, as the main trade, cultural and military-political partner of France, took the most active and visible part in this grandiose event. For the first time, Russia had its own separate national pavilions here. The main one was located on a hillside in the Trocadero park, on which the French public " greedily pounced<...>partly because there was almost nothing else to see at the exhibition, partly because of the feeling of that "aiiiapse" a, which is now saturated with the slightest contact between French and Russian» .
Nearby was located the “Handicraft Pavilion”, which exhibited arts and crafts, works of traditional and modern folk crafts. After the Exhibition was closed, the French press expressed regret that the inhabitants of this "village" - the Russian workers who built it - had disappeared: “The French marveled at their fur hats caps with leather visors, disheveled beards, brace-cut hair, childishly good-natured eyes and gentle smiles. Our workers especially surprised the French comrades with their artistic ability to wield an ax and use it to make things from wood for which the Frenchman uses a whole range of various tools.. An interesting report, also related to the construction of a handicraft pavilion, was made in the Society of Architects by A. A. Staborovsky, a foreman in the Russian department of the World Exhibition. He said that the first batch of Russian carpenters, who arrived at the construction of the department, made a real sensation in Paris.
Firstly, the Russian workers, thanks to their red shirts and oily boots, seemed to the French a rare curiosity: “The boys ran after them in a crowd, ran ahead, shouted to them “vive la Russie!”, They gave them tobacco, cigarettes and newspapers for reading, which our peasants used for cigarettes. The adults also showed their affection for them, treated them to cognac, which our workers drank with beer glasses and plunged the company gathering around into amazement. The beautiful half of the human race also did not remain indifferent to œs petits Russes. They began to come to the commissariat for information about the material well-being of some workers; one young guy was not married just because he was already married” .
Secondly, the very methods of work and the arrangement of Russian life seemed to the French at least strange and surprising. So, for example, the French were terribly afraid of a fire, in connection with which the most stringent fire-fighting measures were used at the exhibition: « <...>It took a lot of work to get permission to build a Russian oven and a kitchen for the workers. The Russian stove horrified the French, and they offered to arrange gas fires.. In addition, in order to speed up the work, despite the presence of 125 Russian carpenters, the French still had to be taken: “The French carpenters were not very comfortable: they didn’t have axes, they didn’t know how to hew. The Russian workers, with their natural intelligence and ingenuity, as well as their endurance and ability to adapt to all sorts of circumstances, caused great surprise among the French. With their almost primitive tools, our workers sometimes achieved the same results as the French. The French carpenters marveled a lot at the dexterity of the ax of our workers and began to buy spare axes from them, and since our carpenters were reluctant to part with their only tool, the French, without hesitation, stole our axes, since there is nothing to get them in Paris.
It should be noted that the French, when they encountered ordinary Russian people, have always been admired at all times by such qualities as helpfulness, skill and agility: they sometimes replaced a lot of tools with one ax, with which they worked wonders. However, this did not prevent the French from acknowledging their superiority over the Russian workers. Indeed, thanks to their schooling, they have gone far ahead. «<...>Not all of our foremen understood the drawing in the same way as ordinary French workers. The most complex designs and drawings are executed by them extremely simply and accurately. Looking at our work, they could not understand our frame, brackets, scaffolding, etc., and tried to offer their own methods. All wooden buildings and towers were erected by French carpenters without scaffolding, and with the help of prefabricated ladders, and the habit of working in this way developed the abilities of acrobats in them, so that our workers themselves called them "desperate" .
In general, the work at the Exhibition showed that talented and savvy Russian workers lacked only elementary school training, technical education, which Russian engineers regretted at every step: “Our worker is a talented self-taught, which is evident from the fact that everything was done no worse than French professionals, solely thanks to his ability” .
A military pavilion was also built at the exhibition. But in general, the place given to the Russians was, according to Princess M. K. Tenisheva, "extremely disadvantageous<...>, because the Russian section at the exhibition did not come out as spectacular as it could be.<...>However, despite the unfortunate place, some Russian departments were still very interesting. .
The World Exhibition of 1900 became the most attended in their entire previous history - over 48 million people. The artist I. S. Ostroukhov wrote to V. D. Polenov in September 1900: «<...>I lived from morning to night at an exhibition that is a thousand times more interesting and more serious than the two years I saw in 1878 and 1889. This exhibition is really worth seeing.” .
Not everyone was delighted with the scope of the large-scale action, since these “places of pilgrimage to the commodity fetish” with their “vital nerve - fetishism” erected a “commodity universe” in which sometimes there was not enough space for the Parisians themselves: “The Parisian feels as if destroyed, he is strangled, crushed by the exotic element that has developed under the frames of the palace of industry<.>The presence of 500,000 foreigners in Paris, first of all, is manifested by the pushing force at the main points of the capital and the complete impossibility of getting a hired carriage.- read in Russia about the Exhibition of 1855.
According to Russian observations, the same picture could be observed decades later, only on a larger scale: This type of international relations, - wrote P. Boborykin, - sealed it (Paris) not to the benefit of what was the main attraction of Parisian street life. Exhibitions developed the pursuit of curious novelty, flooded Paris with all sorts of visiting people who go only to the bait of advertising and curiosity.. . The first impression of the artist E. D. Polenova from the Exhibition of 1889 was as unpleasant as from “huge, cheap and untalented advertising. There is a lot of popular print, she wrote, but very little thin.. Later, after a closer study, she found a lot of interesting things here. The main drawback of the Exhibition, according to the artist, was that it “too big, and a good thing is lost in a huge number of things that are unimportant, mediocre, and often even bad.” » . "Living in Paris is good, - she wrote to E. G. Mamontova, - but not when the exhibition, otherwise it is terribly tiring.<...>In spirit, I feel again very screwed up, which was not the first time upon arrival here. .
The achievements of mankind in some representatives of the Russian intelligentsia sometimes caused mixed feelings of delight and horror, since it was almost impossible to imagine an even more perfect development of science and technology. Unprecedented progress, piercing the outcome of the 19th century with an arrow, was bound to run into some dead end, according to Russian observers, and lead to degradation. From Paris of the sample of 1889, in which one can "resolutely forget everything, and father, and mother, and clan, and tribe," V. Vasnetsov wrote: “And the exhibition? This, I think, is something terrible in its infinity, in its boundless accumulation of wealth, labor, culture (!), genius, talent. I imagine without fail that this must be terrifying, for where to go? What else remains to be completed? Meanwhile, people will go even further. God! Yes, this is quite scary! Surely there must be people to eat! ». To the religious philosopher N. Fedorov, the Exhibition in Paris in 1889 and the French Exhibition in Moscow (“and this is in such a year as the hungry year of 1891”) seemed to be almost animated monsters: “To expect that the blind force, given to the control of this conscious being and not controlled by him, would itself produce only good, give only good harvests, is the height of childishness.<...>. How not to say that the Lord, apparently, was angry at our prolonged immaturity!. He believed that industry and trade are “all this little thing that modern man is so proud of, which he collects from all corners of the earth under the inappropriate name of“ World (exhibitions) ”and which keeps human thought and activity under the yoke, even physical cabinets and laboratories are all just "children's" sciences.
In October 1900, 18-year-old Margarita Sabashnikova, in the future a well-known artist, poetess, writer and wife of the poet M. Voloshin, went to Paris: "The face of the beloved city<...>, - she recalls, - was distorted by this monster - this is how I perceived the Exhibition.<....>I felt lost in this turmoil. The waterfalls of the Trocadero lit by sparklers, the spinning of Louise Fuller's skirts also lit by sparklers, the falsely exotic dances of the famous beauty Cleo de Merode, and especially the dazzling audience left in my soul only a feeling of emptiness and despondency. Among all kinds of cars and spectacles, questions about the meaning of this whole culture and the meaning of life in general haunted me all the time.. At the Exhibition - the quintessence of material and technical progress, the naturalism of which so wounded a thin young soul, Sabashnikova was truly delighted only by the Japanese theater with the famous actress Sadayakko, the first woman on the Japanese stage: “This art,” I thought, “comes from ancient culture, why is it that we, in our time, do not have access to such art? The ancient cultures were artistically higher than ours!” .
About the “nervous hustle and bustle of Paris”, fatigue from the hyper-boiling life in the “capital of the world”, writes a philanthropist and collector of Russian antiquity collections, the wife of the General Commissioner of the Russian Department - M. K. Tenisheva, who played one of the leading roles in organizing Russia's success at the international representation. The Exhibition itself left few pleasant impressions in her memory: «<...>I consider it a complete failure. There was nothing original, nothing new in it, and, studying and examining it, I could not bear anything but fatigue. Starting with its location and the very same Eiffel Tower, which already had an eyesore before the exhibition, ending with the complete decline of creativity, discovered by the French nation - all together it was unpleasant. The poor French could not escape the style of Louis XVI, and all the hastily erected buildings bore the imprint of a decline in taste and testified to the paucity of artistic tasks. It was disgusting to see this endless row of buildings, huge exhibition sheds, with plaster moldings. Looking at them, I thought that if France did not make an effort and break these shackles of two hundred years of copying, undoubtedly a great past, she would die for art, and it would not be so easy to be reborn. Even applied art and its branch, which previously constituted the glory of France - "l" art precieux, are now very low there " .
V. Vasnetsov wrote to his brother in September 1900: “The impressions you received from the exhibition do not really encourage you to go there. You will get tired, but you will not take away anything significant in your soul. Why did they fool us that the place for our paintings is wonderful!. A French political journalist, A. Leroy-Beaulieu, also acted as a staunch opponent of the World Exhibitions. According to him, due to their incredibly growing size and cost, they are becoming more and more impossible and useless, turning into some kind of bazaars where the visitor is looking only for entertainment. He dreamed that the Exhibition of 1900 would be the last.
Bibliographic list
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Copy of someone else's materials
It was the fourth World Exhibition in France. Like all previous reviews, it was located in the very center of Paris - on the Champ de Mars, the Orsay embankment and, on the contrary, across the Seine - in the Trocadero area. The exhibition area, which occupied more than 70 hectares, was provided by the city free of charge. The exhibition has turned into a unique experimental building laboratory. Buildings and structures made of metal were built here, which, by the boldness of technical thought and their huge size, were many years ahead of world practice. The grandiose 300-meter metal tower, designed by Gustave Eiffel on the banks of the Seine, was twice the height of the tallest buildings in the world. Together with Eiffel, the engineer Bourdon took part in the design, and it was built by several contractors: Gobert, Nugnier, Queshlen, Sal and Sauvestr. All parts of the tower were manufactured by the factory. Its construction lasted 7 months. The dynamic composition of the tower showed new aesthetic possibilities of metal architecture.
Behind the Eiffel Tower were various exhibition buildings, the main compositional role among which was played by the luxurious Palace of Industry. On the dome of this building, 65 meters high, a huge female figure was installed, personifying France.
Behind the Palace of Industry, designed by architect F.L. Duther and engineer M.Zh. Contamena was built a true masterpiece of engineering - the Palace of Machines. The length of this gigantic three-bay building was 420 m, the middle span was 115 m, and the clear height was 45 m. The light load-bearing structure of the central hall was unique for that time. It consisted of twenty latticed three-hinged arches, resting directly on the foundation. The building was equipped with an unusual viewing platform, operating on the principle of an overhead crane. It transported more than 200 visitors along the entire length of the grandiose pavilion and allowed them to view a diverse exposition from above - the most modern for that time and for the most part working machines.
The Palace of Machines was a specific exhibition building, outstanding in the history of world architecture. He changed the usual ideas associated with the distribution of masses in conventional structures. The well-known architectural historian Siegfried Gideon wrote about this: “Such a freely overlapped spatial volume meant a hitherto unknown victory over matter.” This architecture, expressing the new possibilities of machine production, contrasted with the prevailing tradition of decoration and eclecticism, in which the rest of the exhibition buildings were maintained.
Unfortunately, the Palace of Machines, like most of the unique exhibition buildings of the 19th century, was dismantled after the closing of the world show. The Eiffel Tower was more fortunate. Despite numerous protests and petitions from Parisian writers, artists, sculptors and architects who accompanied the construction of the tower, and even after the exhibition closed, it survived. Moreover, two decades later, it has become a symbol of the city. Ironically, the Eiffel Tower in the twentieth century inspired poets and artists to create outstanding works.
In the Paris exhibition of 1889, 29 countries officially took part and 11 more countries - unofficially. Russia, like most monarchical states, refused to officially participate in the review, "timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the execution of the French king." The exhibition gathered 56 thousand participants. About 62 thousand exhibits were thematically divided into 9 groups and 83 classes:
1st group - objects of fine arts;
2nd group - subjects of upbringing and education;
3rd group - furniture, bronze, clocks, carpets, luxury items;
4th group - fabrics, dresses, jewelry, toilet accessories;
5th group - extractive industry, raw materials and their processing;
6th group - items of mechanical processing;
7th group - food;
8th group - agriculture, winemaking, fishing;
9th group - gardening.
What was unique at this review? The most impressive was the engine department. Among the steam units, the machines of the American Corlis prevailed. The large 1200-horsepower coal-lifting machine was amazing. The development of machine technology was ensured by the rapid growth of steel smelting by the latest processes. At the exhibition, along with the Bessemer and Marten processes, dephosphorization of metal in converters by the Thomas method was shown. Samples of cars were also shown here for the first time: a three-wheeled car by Karl Benz and a four-wheeled car by Gottlieb Daimler.
The electrical department was admired by everyone. Lighting equipment, light bulbs, telephones, telegraph enchanted the public. Of particular interest was the stand with numerous inventions of Thomas Edison. To listen to his phonograph, visitors queued for hours. The great advances in electrical engineering, especially in the field of lighting, contributed greatly to the splendor of the exhibition itself. Spectacular and safe electric lighting made it possible to visit the exhibition in the evening. The lighting of the exhibition used gas and electricity, but the gas was clearly inferior to the latter. The palm belonged to incandescent lamps. Interestingly, in the gardens and on the bridge over the Seine, 70 Yablochkov's candles were also burning.
Significant progress has been made in the development of chemical technologies. Many new products of chemistry were demonstrated here: artificial alkaloid, indigo, saccharin, celluloid, etc.
The exhibition coincided with the 50th anniversary of the invention of photography. An extensive exposition introduced the public to the victorious spread of "light painting" around the world.
The organizers of the exhibition arranged several more special thematic expositions, among which the section "History of the Human Dwelling" enjoyed the greatest interest. The author of the idea was the famous French architect Charles Garnier. According to his designs, 44 buildings were built, representing an impromptu retrospective of residential buildings of different peoples from the Stone Age to the 17th century. The Paris Exhibition of 1889 marked the beginning of a tradition of building settlements of "exotic" peoples, which continued until the middle of the 20th century.
Despite the fact that Russia did not take an official part in the Paris review, the Russian department was still privately represented. It covered an area of 3800 sq. m in the large gallery of the Palace of Industry. 820 of our compatriots exhibited their exhibits here.
The unofficial participation of Russia in the exhibition inevitably affected its quality. Expenses for participation in the exhibition this time completely fell on the exhibitors themselves. There were no Russian exhibits in the department of cars. The mining section did not reflect the state of the mining industry in Russia and was significantly inferior to our similar sections at previous world exhibitions. Russian artists were also poorly represented at the Palace of Fine Arts. Nevertheless, 671 Russian exhibitors received awards - 19 honorary diplomas, 128 gold, 184 silver, 210 bronze medals and 130 honorable mentions, i.е. more than 80% of the total number of world exhibition awards.
Among the most significant exhibits of the Russian department, the collection of soils, sent by Professor V.V. Dokuchaev. Of particular interest was the "cube" of black soil, brought from Voronezh and later transferred to the Sorbonne University. The collection of Russian soils received the gold medal of the exhibition, and its compiler was awarded the medal "For Merit in Agriculture". Visitors and the press noted the quality of Kuznetsov's faience, Batashev's and Vorontsov's Tula samovars, Morozov's chintz, Novinsky's furs, Labzin's Pavlovo-Posad shawls, Grinwald's hunting furniture and stuffed animals, Aliber's stone products. Savin's leather, Svirsky's furniture, Chopin's bronze, Khlebnikov's and Ovchinnikov's silverware, Frache's cupronickel, and samples of Auerbach's mercury ore received special praise. The first producer of Russian brandy, the founder of well-known brandy factories in Kizlyar, Yerevan and Tbilisi D.Z. Saradzhiev was awarded two gold medals at once.
Parisian newspapers spoke enthusiastically about the concerts of Russian music in the Trocadero Palace. A symphony orchestra conducted by N.A. performed here. Rimsky-Korsakov.
The Russian restaurant "in national taste", which was arranged on the first platform of the Eiffel Tower during the exhibition, enjoyed great success with the Parisian public. Among the "History of dwellings" stood out and "Russian house", built by the French. It was a free improvisation on the theme of a two-story boyar house of the 15th century.
The World Exhibition of 1889 turned into a colossal holiday - a mass national holiday and at the same time a holiday of industry. She gave a lot of new ideas and improvements that contributed to the progress of mankind.