keywords : World's Fairs; materials; cultural policies; Paris; Latin America; Middle East
Is a country's legitimacy at the heart of the great concert of nations negotiated in the scenographic itineraries or in the materials used for the pavilions? How are the discourses articulated between these two media, and how are they instrumentalized in the French press? The guiding principle of this analysis gives primacy to the discursive power of the materiality of the Latin American pavilions at the 1889 World's Fair. The choice of this year is explained by the political and cultural commitment of the Latin American nations to this exhibition, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.
In 1889, the Mexican pavilion used innovative materials (metal structure, sheet metal) sourced from Europe to build a pre-Hispanic-inspired edifice. The materials were in dialogue with the forms of the building: they indicated the race forward in which Mexico has been engaged since its Independence in 1821 and the style of the pavilion connoted the reappropriation of its pre-colonial history within a nationalist discourse. The Nicaraguan pavilion praised for its use of French Renaissance-era materials such as wood, glazed tiles and terracotta finials on the ridge in the taste of 16th-century Limoges architecture. The choice of architect justified this French bias: M. Sauvestre, architect of the Eiffel Tower, was in charge of the pavilion. In this case, the materials and style of the pavilion seem to sing the praises of France in unison. Nicaraguan particularities were only in the local products on display. The Republic of El Salvador pavilion opted for a Hispano-Moorish style. Architect M. Lequeux drew the lines of an oriental palace and "replaced Arab ceramics with American ceramics". The change in materials was eloquent here: it marks El Salvador's inclusion in the Spanish lineage, and the interchangeability of azulejos stated in the official catalog emphasizes the proximity of these civilizations.
The agentivity of the materials used in the Latin American pavilions served the national discourse of the respective countries as much as the style of the buildings. An analysis of the materials highlights the paradoxical discourse between the materials and the pavilions' scenographic layouts.
The press revels in these material and stylistic negotiations in Latin American pavilions at World's Fairs, and journalists pride themselves on being able to assess or devalue these countries' degrees of civilization according to the materials they avidly describe. The instrumentalization of material descriptions in the press of the time emphasizes their discursive power, both cultural and political.
Looking at the Latin American pavilions at the 1889 World's Fair through the lens of building materials means re-reading their respective discourses and analyzing them as multiple agents. As vehicles of cultural transfer between Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, they highlight underlying exchanges that are nonetheless highly eloquent. The study of their provenance, their geographical and plastic transfers and their descriptions will provide new keys to understanding the circulations and processes of Latin American cultural and political construction.
Elodie Vaudry, PhD in art history from the University of Paris-Nanterre, wrote her thesis on La présence et les usages des arts précolombiens dans les arts décoratifs en France de l'entre-deux-guerres. She was awarded the Institut des Amériques prize for her doctoral work and her book Transferts et métamorphoses. Les arts précolombiens dans les arts décoratifs en France, 1875-1945 was published in 2019. She completed a post-doctorate at the Institut de recherches esthétiques in México (UNAM) from 2017 to 2020, and then joined the German Art History Center Paris DFK Paris as a scientific advisor.
Is a country''s legitimacy at the heart of the great concert of nations negotiated in the scenographic itineraries or in the materials used for the pavilions? How are the discourses articulated between these two media, and how are they instrumentalized in the French press? The guiding principle of this analysis gives primacy to the discursive power of the materiality of the Latin American pavilions at the 1889 World''s Fair. The choice of this year is explained by the political and cultural commitment of the Latin American nations to this exhibition, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.