36 Views of Notre Dame

Religious devotion, revolutionary zeal, power-hungry imperialism, the spread of mass consumerism—all of these historical trends are recorded in how Notre Dame has been depicted and its image reproduced. — Tomas van Houtryve On April 15, 2019, fire devastated the iconic Notre Dame cathedral of Paris. In 36 Views of Notre Dame, the viewer accompanies Tomas van Houtryve 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. This book is bilingual in English and French.