Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower: Sur les toits

The Eiffel Tower, erected in 1889 for the Paris Universal Exposition, reached almost double the height of any other structure yet built and thus symbolized modern technology, the new age of iron over stone. Rivière was the first artist to investigate the pictorial possibilities of the Tower and its effect on the Paris cityscape. His 36 lithographs, based on drawings he made during the monument's construction between 1887 and 1892, depict the Tower from many different vantage points, even as a speck in the distance of a bucolic country scene. Rivière's prints emphasize that the Eiffel Tower was omnipresent within the greater urban and suburban landscape of Paris; amazingly it still maintains its visual dominance over the city today.

A horizontally oriented color lithograph in muted tan, gray, and black depicts a view across Parisian rooftops. Large stone chimney stacks with dark metal exhaust pipes frame the foreground on our left and right. One black cat runs toward our left, while another peeks from a roof gully. Sloping rooflines lead to a distant silhouette of a latticed tower against a sky of layered clouds. Heavy outlines and flat color washes define the scene.

Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower: Sur les toits

1902

Henri Rivière

(French, 1864–1951)

France, 20th century

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