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Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900

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Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900

The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was held in Paris, France from April 14 until November 10, 1900, and celebrated the achievements of the last century in an Art Nouveau style. Over 50,000,000 people attended this worlds fair, which had some 76,000 exhibitors and spanned 1.2 square kilometres. Buildings that survive from the 1900 Exposition include the Gare de Lyon, the Gare d’Orsay (now the Musée d’Orsay), the Pont Alexandre III, the Grand Palais, La Ruche, and the Petit Palais. The Eiffel Tower, which many people associate with the 1900 Exposition, was actually constructed for the 1889 Exposition that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.

Dr. Alexandre Lion operated a rather sizeable exhibit of incubators and premature newborns at the Exposition, using the equipment and techniques he developed for his “Baby Incubator Charity” at 26, Boulevard Poissonière, Paris. His combination souvenir/entry ticket postcards are ubiquitous on eBay, so a great many of them must have been distributed at the time.

The souvenir card indicates that Lion had incubators (or some kind of presence) at four locations within the Exposition, as well as his well-known permanent location at 26, Boulevard Poissonnière. The fourth location on the postcard I found documented in the Repport Général Administratif et Technique, Tome Quatrième, Section Française, below. But I have not found any snapshots of any of Lion’s exhibits at the Paris Exposition up until now, and the pictures on the souvenir postcard may just be stock photos he uses for all his postcards.

Classe 112. Assistance publique. — L’OEuvre maternelle des conseuses d’enfants disposait de 36o mètres carrés sur la rive nord-ouest du lac, à proximité du pavillon d’administration et de l’entrée Daumesnil. Elle y avait élevé une construction à rez-de-chaussée comprenant : 1° une galerie circulaire, où le public avait accès et voyait des couveuses aver bébés vivants; 2° une partie centrale occupée par les services de la pouponnière.

Class 112. Public Assistance. — The Œuvre maternelle des couveuses d’enfants occupied an area of ​​360 square meters on the northwest shore of the lake, near the administration pavilion and the Daumesnil entrance. It had erected a single-story structure comprising: 1) a circular gallery accessible to the public, where visitors could view incubators containing live infants; and 2) a central section housing the nursery facilities.

— Repport Général Administratif et Technique, Tome Quatrième, Section Française, p. 304

The final reports from the Exposition record that Lion’s exhibit was awarded a Bronze Medal at the Exposition.

12° Mentionnons enfin l’OEuvre maternelle des couveuses d’enfants, qui a également obtenu une médaille de bronze.

— Rapports du Jury International, Group XVI – Économie sociale – Hygiène Assistance publique, Quatrième Partie – Classe 112 , page 129

In addition to Lion’s exhibit, there was an incubator exhibit at the Exposition from the Maternité Sainte-Anne Bruxelles (Maternity Hospital of Saint Anne in Brussels) adjacent to the Eiffel Tower. The incubators are rather odd and quite unique, I have not seen that design anywhere else, and more likely derived from the Tarner/Auvard/Budin design than the Lion design. The ticket also appears to be associated with this exhibit.

Source: @ParisAMDParis
Source: eBay.fr

Page 66 of the “Official General Catalog” of the exposition has the following description:

Which Google translate renders as: “Worth noting is the exhibition of the Sainte-Anne Maternity Hospital, which displays—within a charming pavilion—infant incubators and the medical equipment used in this institution, which performs such invaluable work.”

Belgique. — La Belgique avait. sous la Tour de 3oo mètres, côté La Bourdonnais. un pavillon dit «de la Maternité Sainte-Anne». dans lequel devait ètre montrée au public l’œuvre de celle société philantropique. Aux termes du contrat de concession, la société était investie du droit: 1° de percevoir une redevance sur les visiteurs: 2° de vendre le lait pasteurisé par ses appareils.
De faibles dimensions, le batiment ne couvrait que 48 mètres carrés. Il comprenait une cave. un rez-de-chaussée pour le débit du lait. un étage abritant des couvenses d’enfants.
La construction élait en bois et plàtre. Un ton bleu pàle avait été appliqué sur les bois apparents. Quelques appliques en blen au pochoir, se rattachant à l’art nouveau. rehaussaient le blanc du plàtre.

Belgium. — Belgium had a pavilion known as the “Sainte-Anne Maternity” located beneath the 300-meter tower on the La Bourdonnais side, where the work of this philanthropic society was to be displayed to the public. Under the terms of the concession agreement, the society held the right to: 1) collect a fee from visitors; and 2) sell milk pasteurized using its own equipment.
The building was small, covering an area of ​​only 48 square meters. It comprised a cellar, a ground floor for milk sales, and an upper floor housing infant incubators.
The structure was made of wood and plaster. A pale blue tone had been applied to the exposed woodwork. Blue stenciled decorative motifs, in the Art Nouveau style, accented the white plaster.

– Repport Général Administratif et Technique, Tome Septiéme,, p. 254

Interestingly, in later years, Martin Couney claimed to have exhibited at the Paris Exposition (for example, see A Patron of the Premies, by A. J. Liebling, The New Yorker, 1939). It appears, however, that this was just more of the “alternate facts” in Couney’s self-created legend. We have found no evidence in the program of the Exposition or the subsequent Repport Général that Couney was actually an exhibitor at the Paris Exposition.

A map of the exposition is shown below.

Last Updated on 06/20/26