The Frist Art Museum presents
Paris 1900: City of Entertainment,
an exhibition that revives the splendor of the French capital at the
turn of the twentieth century, when millions visited the
site of the International Exposition. Organized by the Petit Palais
Museum of Fine Arts in Paris with additional loans from other Parisian
museums, the exhibition will be on view in the Frist’s Ingram Gallery
from October 12, 2018, through January 6, 2019.
The Frist is the first of three venues in the United States to present
this iteration of an exhibition that was originally on view at the Petit
Palais in 2014.
With
the International Exhibition of 1900 as its starting point, the
exhibition offers a focused look at the different ways in which Paris
became the entertainment capital of the world. Belle
Époque Paris, a period of relative peace and prosperity stretching from
1874 to 1914, was the site of intense artistic and architectural
innovation, which gave rise to entertainment forms that continue to
remain relevant.
Bringing
together over 250 objects—paintings, prints, sculptures, decorative
art, costumes and fashion accessories, posters, photographs, and
more—kept mainly by the City of Paris museums, Paris
1900 immerses visitors in the era’s sparkling atmosphere of elegance,
pleasure, and festivity. Major artists represented in the exhibition
include Pierre Bonnard, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste
Renoir, Auguste Rodin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,
and Édouard Vuillard, as well as many others working across multiple
mediums. The objects will be presented in six groupings: “Paris,
Showcase of the World”; “Art Nouveau”; “Paris, Capital of the Arts”;
“The Parisian Woman”; “Traversing Paris”; and “Paris
by Night.”
The
exhibition also tells the story of a vibrant and swiftly changing city.
Although Paris was quite different from its idealized representation in
posters and advertisements, the turn of the
century was indeed an exceptional time. The city was growing rapidly
and had a population of nearly three million by 1914. Additionally,
Paris attracted travelers for both business purposes and leisure
activities. “It is fitting that Nashville is the first
stop of this exhibition’s tour,” says Frist Art Museum curator Katie
Delmez.
Maurice Denis
Henri-Marie-Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa dit Toulouse-Lautrec
