City Full of Dreams: Colonial Spaces and Modernity in Interwar Paris
This dissertation examines the role of modern design, architecture, and concepts in sites that linked Paris with France’s colonial empire in the interwar period. I argue that the colonies were a significant part of modern life in Paris, with efforts made to promote the use of colonial materials and motifs and regular attention to the colonies shown by the popular and architectural press. I look at the Grande Mosquée de Paris, colonial pavilions and themes in the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, sections of the 1931 Exposition Coloniale featuring modern design and technology, the Musée Permanent des Colonies at the Palais de la Porte Dorée, and ways in which Parisian design and planning shaped the experiences of tourists in the colonies. I trace a cultural history of these spaces, examining their documentation and reception in the contemporary press, the role of modern architecture as a site for anti-colonial protest, and the relationship between sites representing the colonies and modern literature. This dissertation shows, through examination of colonial spaces and their representation in the media, that design and architecture served as a means of locating and fixing French identity both temporally and spatially.
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