Iberians, Identity and Historicism at the Exposition Universelle 1900
by Hannah Sigur, Instituto de História da Arte, Universidade Nove de Lisboa
February 23, 2026 at 1 PM ET
Casa de España, and Pavilhão das Matas, Caça e Pesca and Pavilhão das Colónias, the national pavilions of Portugal and Spain at L’Exposition de Paris 1900, brought contrasting visual resolutions to their countries’ parallel dilemmas regarding exposition ideology and contemporary geopolitical concerns. Their design and contents presaged a still largely unrecognized reality: that geopolitical tectonics undergirding the world order, and thus the entire movement were shifting. Meanwhile, the critical responses to these structures reveal both fissures embedded in exposition ideology, and the deep and persistent denial about changes that culminated in the dramatically altered global map post WWI.
Hannah Sigur, Ph.D., since 2018 an affiliate researcher in the Instituto de História da Arte, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, previously lived in the San Francisco Bay area, New York City, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia. Her work comprises two distinct yet overlapping concentrations—a 17-year career teaching the traditional arts of Japan and East Asia; and research exploring the material culture of internationalism, especially the intertwining of architecture and design with political ideology and national identity at world’s fairs. This includes her book, The Influence of Japanese Art on Design (Gibbs Smith, 2008) a cross-cultural analysis of Japonisme; “Interpretive Essay” on the 1893 White City in What Happened? An Encyclopedia of Events that Changed America Forever, Vol. III (ABC-Cleo, 2010); Neoclassicism and National Identity: Japan, the United States and International Expositions 1862-1915 (Dissertation, NYU 2013); “Neoclassicism in Translation: Japan’s Hōōden at the World’s Columbian International Exposition, 1893” in Expanding Nationalisms at World’s Fairs: Identity, Diversity and Exchange 1855 – 1914 (Routledge 2017), and “Dresser in Japan: Aesthetic Inspiration meets Political Aim,” Christopher Dresser Society Journal, Volume One, (May 2022).