Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne

The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (International Exposition dedicated to Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Musée de l'Homme and the Palais de Tokyo, which houses the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, were created for this exhibition.

Exhibitions
At first the centerpiece of the exposition was to be a 2300 ft tower ("Phare du Monde") which was to have a spiraling road to a parking garage located at the top and a hotel and restaurant located above that. The idea was abandoned as far too expensive.

The Canadian pavilion included Joseph-Émile Brunet' 28-foot sculpture of a buffalo (1937). Paintings by Joseph-Émile Brunet, panels on the outside of the structure, and a show inside the Canadian pavilion depicted aspects of Canadian culture.

The Spanish pavilion attracted attention as the exposition took place during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish pavilion was built by the Spanish architect Josep Lluis Sert. The pavilion, set up by the Republican government, included Pablo Picasso's famous painting Guernica, a depiction of the horrors of war, Alexander Calder's sculpture Mercury Fountain and Joan Miró's painting Catalan peasant in revolt.

Two of the other notable pavilions were those of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The organization of the world exhibition had placed the German and the Soviet pavilions directly across from each other. Hitler had desired to withdraw from participation, but his architect Albert Speer convinced him to participate after all, showing Hitler his plans for the German pavilion. Speer later revealed in his autobiographies that he had had a clandestine look at the plans for the Soviet pavilion, and had designed the German pavilion to represent a bulwark against Communism.

The preparation and construction of the exhibits were plagued by delay. On the opening day of the exhibition, only the German and the Soviet pavilions had been completed. This, as well as the fact that the two pavilions faced each other, turned the exhibition into a competition between the two great ideological rivals.

Speer's pavilion was culminated by a tall tower crowned with the symbols of the Nazi state: an eagle and the swastika. The pavilion was conceived as a monument to "German pride and achievement". It was to broadcast to the world that a new and powerful Germany had a restored sense of national pride. At night, the pavilion was illuminated by floodlights. Josef Thorak's sculpture Comradeship stood outside the pavilion, depicting two enormous nude males, clasping hands and standing defiantly side by side, in a pose of mutual defense and "racial camaraderie".

The architect of the Soviet pavilion was Boris Iofan. Vera Mukhina designed the large figurative sculpture on the pavilion. The grand building was topped by Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, a large momentum-exerting statue, of a male worker and a female peasant, their hands together, thrusting a hammer and a sickle. The statue was meant to symbolize the union of workers and peasants.

Awards
At the presentation, both Speer and Iofan, who also designed the Palace of Soviets that was planned to be constructed in Moscow, were awarded gold medals for their respective designs. Also, for his model of the Nuremberg party rally grounds, the jury granted Speer, to his and Hitler's surprise, a Grand Prix.

Artist Johanne deRibert Kajanus, mother of composer Georg Kajanus and film-maker Eva Norvind, granddaughter of composer and conductor Robert Kajanus, and grandmother of actress Nailea Norvind, won a bronze medal for her life-size sculpture of 'Mother and Child' at the exhibition.

Polish engineers from Warsaw won a gold medal for the new Polish locomotive Pm36-1 PKP class Pm36.

American architect Alden Dow won the "grand prize for residential architecture" for his John S. Whitman House, built in Midland, Michigan, USA.

Festivals of the Exposition

 * 23 May — The Centenary of the Arc de Triomphe
 * 5 – 13 June — The International Floralies
 * 26 June — Motorboat races on the Seine
 * 29 June — Dance Festival
 * July — Midsummer Night's Dream (In the gardens of Bagatelle)
 * 3 July — Horse Racing
 * 4 – 11 July — Rebirth of the City
 * 21 July — Colonial Festival
 * 27 July — World Championship Boxing Matches
 * 30 July – 10 August — The True Mystery of the Passion (before Notre Dame Cathedral)
 * 12 September — Grape Harvest Festival
 * Forty Two International Sporting Championships
 * Every Night: Visions of Fairyland on the Seine