This post was originally published on April 1, 2013. Between 1909 and 1948, the Grand Palais near the Champs-Elysées in Paris featured  remarkable decorative interiors which housed automotive, aeronautical and many other types of trade shows. For the buildings and other structures of the Paris Colonial Exposition of 1931, decorative lighting helped create a unity...

Ingo Maurer’s most lively exhibit in the historic Andrew Carnegie mansion was his installation of the Carnegies’ portraits above the grand staircase. Andrew and Louise Carnegie gazed out over the magical exhibition Provoking Magic: Lighting of Ingo Maurer and provided their own commentary on the mansion’s transformation under the lighting wizard.

Ingo Maurer and his extraordinary team of designers and technicians have managed to dramatically transform the second floor of the Carnegie Mansion into a fiesta of lights and objects. But Maurer uses a sensitive touch while maintaining the original character of this grand domestic space. If anything, he has made it even more intimate and...