3.0

credits

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Held in Paris, the 1900 World’s Fair introduced to the modern world such striking innovations as subways, moving images on giant screens, escalators, colossal electrical shows, and the first painting by Pablo Picasso to be shown on French soil. Focused on key cultural and socio-political events surrounding this momentous turn-of-the-century display of wealth and power, this course examines the paradoxes of a modernizing French nation which even as it promoted individual rights alongside technology and economic growth was headed towards world conflict. Students will perform original research by exploring the rare book collection at JHU as well as the substantial digital archives now documenting the period.