Art as Colonial Propaganda: The Palace of the Ministry of the Colonies at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition

Maria P. Gindhart

The French Third Republic’s use of art to support its colonial mission was very much in evidence at the Palace of the Ministry of the Colonies at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition. The northern façade of this temporary building was decorated with a painted frieze depicting the indigenous populations of the French colonies, which were the focus of the map on the eastern façade. Above the main entrance, sculptures of Navigation, Science, Commerce, and Industry allegorized the tools and benefits of colonialism. The entrance vestibule’s cupola was decorated with paintings symbolizing Asia, Africa, America, and Oceania, while the ceiling painting in the first gallery represented the flora and fauna of these four parts of the world where France possessed colonies. Actual colonial plants were exhibited in an adjacent greenhouse along with Emmanuel Fremiet’s plaster Bear-Cub Thief. This sculpture of a prehistoric man underscored the belief that many of France’s colonial subjects were still living in the Stone Age. Meanwhile, in the palace’s main gallery, an allegorical ceiling composition by Fernand Cormon showed the colonies paying homage and bringing tribute to France. Busts of administrators, explorers, and soldiers who had contributed to French colonial expansion were also exhibited throughout this room. In terms of both the subject matter and the typically French style of the works of art, which was meant to reflect the power and civilization of the nation, the decorative program of the Palace of the Ministry of the Colonies definitely served as propaganda in the service of French colonialism.