Paris 1937

This book, illustrated with forty-five photographs, explores the cultural significance of six exhibitions or new museum installations, all opening in Paris between mid-1937 and early 1938: the commercially oriented world's fair titled L'Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques; the historical Musee des Monuments Francais; the ethnographic Musee de l'Homme; two massive art retrospectives, one sponsored by the state of France and the other by the municipality of Paris; and L'Exposition Internationale du Surrealisme. James D. Herbert capitalizes on the proximity of these disparate…