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Parisians were regularly presented
with a past that was organized as a steady progress from
barbarism to civilization. This was generally presented in terms
of technological progress, but there was often also a suggestion
that humans had evolved morally from brutal origins to the
higher level of enlightenment that was assumed to exist in their
own world. This was captured in images that served to undercut
traditional Catholic concepts of original sin and to strengthen
Enlightenment notions of the perfectibility of human kind. Here are some images that implicit present human history as a progress towards ever higher stages.
At the 1889 Exposition, Charles Garnier, the designer of the Paris Opera, created a series of dioramas that portrayed the history of work. The visitors to the Exhibition would have automatically contrasted the simple tools and procedures in there earlier periods with the advanced products of the Industrial Age that they saw in other exhibits at the fair.  Diorama of the History of Work -- The Stone Age  Diorama in the History of Work exhibit demonstrating early bronze casting  Diorama in the History of Work exhibit showing early Greek pottery making |
