From Chicago to Paris to New York, the World’s Fairs of the 1930s offered visions of a world in flux—attempting to chart a future at a moment when nothing felt stable. As the Great Depression reshaped daily life and global tensions mounted, these fairs became spectacular stages where nations expressed optimism, power, and unease through architecture, technology, and performance. Art historian Jennie Hirsh examines three landmark fairs, revealing how they transformed crisis into dazzling displays that captured both the aspirations and anxieties of their era.
September 17 Chicago 1933–1934: A Century of Progress
At the height of the Great Depression, Chicago’s “A Century of Progress” fair presented a bold vision of innovation and industrial optimism at a moment when the idea of progress felt uncertain. Attracting over 40 million visitors across its two seasons, the exposition brought that vision to life through electricity demonstrations, transportation innovations, and futuristic architecture—including attractions such as the Sky Ride—placing science and industry at the center of its vision of the modern world.
The exhibition transformed the city’s South Side into a vast showcase of modern industry and design. Visitors encountered striking national pavilions alongside displays of electricity, manufacturing, and urban planning. Hirsh illustrates how the fair blended spectacle, innovation, and national pride while also reflecting the cultural and political tensions of the era. This extraordinary event demonstrated how temporary expositions could both shape and reflect broader ideas of progress in moments of historical uncertainty.
October 15 Paris 1937: In the Shadow of War
As Europe teetered on the brink of World War II, the 1937 Paris World’s Fair brought together more than 300 pavilions on an unprecedented scale, staging a global conversation about modernity, ideology, and artistic ambition. Monumental architecture and landmark works such as Pablo Picasso’s Guernica reflected a world in which cultural achievement and political tension were increasingly inseparable.
Monumental structures—including Germany’s pavilion by Albert Speer and the Soviet Union’s by Boris Iofan—embodied competing visions of modernity. Hirsh explores how the exposition became a stage for nationalism, artistic innovation, and political spectacle, reflecting both extraordinary creative achievement and the deepening crises of a continent on the edge of war.
November 12 New York 1939: Dawn of a New Day
Launching black-and-white television, fluorescent lighting, Salvador Dalí’s Dream of Venus Pavilion, and the famous Futurama exhibit, the 1939 New York World’s Fair embodied its slogan, “Dawn of a New Day,” for over 40 million visitors. Conceived by a team of New York businessmen as a vision of recovery from the Great Depression, the fair became a sweeping display of technological innovation, design, and cultural spectacle. Hirsh examines the ambitious national pavilions, groundbreaking displays, and short films that brought these achievements to life, while also considering the political tensions and logistical challenges that emerged across the fair’s two seasons in 1939 and 1940, as World War II unfolded in Europe.
3 sessions
General Information
