Tomas van Houtryve: 36 Views of Notre Dame

On April 15, 2019, fire devastated the iconic Notre Dame cathedral of Paris.

In Tomas van Houtryve: 36 Views of Notre Dame, the viewer accompanies the artist on his fourteen-year journey photographing the Paris icon before and after the fire. Van Houtryve obtained remarkable access to the cathedral to document the devastation of the fire and the reconstruction. Drawing inspiration from Hokusai’s series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, the artist explores the monument in different contexts, seasons and using a wide range of photographic techniques—from 19th-century wet collodion to aerial drones. Accompanying the artist’s works is a multilayered archive of the cathedral, including historic photographs, vernacular images, and text by Victor Hugo.

Tomas van Houtryve (b. 1975) is a Belgian-American artist based in Paris. He uses a wide range of contemporary and early techniques, continually questioning and reinventing his approach to image-making. Drawing from his background in philosophy and investigative journalism, his multidisciplinary projects challenge our notions of memory, identity and power. 36 Views of Notre Dame is van Houtryve’s second Radius book, after Lines and Lineage (2019).