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SIZE IN CENTIMETRES - 17.5cm x 12.5cm. 

SUBJECT - The Colonial Exhibition in Paris 1931.

The Musee des Colonies at the Paris Coloniale Exposition 1931.

The Pavillion of Africa. (3).

The Porte Dorée Palace was built for the International Exposition of 1931: its first vocation was to be a museum of the colonies to represent the territories, the history of colonial conquest and its effect on the arts. The former function hall and the reception halls of Marshall Lyautey, General Curator of the exposition, and Paul Reynaud, Minister of the Colonies still reflect this past today.

Inaugurated on 6 May 1931, the Colonial Exposition attempted to promote an image of Imperial France at the zenith of its power. Taking the form of an immense popular show, a veritable city within the city, the exposition stretched over a length of 1,200 meters, with 10 kilometers of sign-posted paths. It was part of the tradition of the Universal Expositions of the 19th century devoted to the promotion of the power of the European nations. Dedicated exclusively to the colonies, it took place from May to November 1931 and attracted almost 8 million visitors for 33 million tickets sold. 

The exposition stretched from the Porte Dorée metro station (formerly Picpus) over the whole of the Bois de Vincennes. The Palace of the Colonies, the only construction built to last after the event was over, comprised an overview of the exposition, presenting the history of the French Empire, its territories, the colonies’ contributions to France, as well as those of France to the colonies.

The exposition aimed to give the French people the feeling of strolling through a country that was not limited to its metropolitan borders. Invited to “take a trip around the world in one day”, the visitor could discover each of the French possessions inside pavilions inspired by native architecture. For example, Indochina was represented by a pavilion copying the spectacular dimensions of the Cambodian temple of Angkor Vat. The pavilion of French West Africa was inspired by the architecture of the great Djenné mosque in Mali.

To enliven the event and make it even more attractive, various activities were proposed to the visitors.  Dance performances were one of the most popular attractions. In each section, the inhabitants of the colonies animated these reconstituted villages. Artisans worked in front of the public and others kept souvenir stands. Even if the bias of the exposition de 1931 was not to make fun of the colonials, as was the case of former colonial expositions, it still meant exhibiting men and women to affirm France’s power over them. 

Exotic, excessive and fascinating, the exposition was disembodied at night under the play of light and illuminated fountains, to prolong the dream of travel and the call of an idealized paradise.

Through this idealized vision of the colonial world, the imperial ideology of the period promoting the superiority of the West can also be discerned. Colonization was said to pacify the colonies and benefit their technological, economic, intellectual and human development. 

On the other hand, the less glorious aspects were ignored. This is what the counter-exposition entitled “The Truth About the Colonies” tried to denounce. Among its participants were the surrealists, a group of artists and intellectuals, among them Louis Aragon, Paul Eluard and André Breton. 

DATE - 8.5.1931.

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