Advisory Committee Chair
Heather McPherson
Advisory Committee Members
Noa Turel
Tanja Jones
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2021
Degree Name by School
Master of Arts (MA) College of Arts and Sciences
Abstract
This thesis examines the intersection of Japonisme and modernity in Henri Rivière’s lithographic album, Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower (1902). While paying homage to Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, Rivière represents thirty-six lithographs of modernized Paris. Rivière’s concept of modernity in the album goes beyond simply depicting the modern cityscape with the recently-built Eiffel Tower. His choice of lithography, usage of photographs, and innovative visual strategies indicate that the album is also a representation of modern life in the last decade of the nineteenth century.Modernity in this album operates on multiple levels. In addition to embodying changing fashions or novelties and new technologies, it is the fleeting quality of everyday life that the artist experiences and seeks to capture. In this sense, The Eiffel Tower in this album not only represents the belief in scientific progress. Through its omnipresence in the plates from different angles and vantage points across Paris, it signifies the pervasiveness of modernity and its impact on urban life. Likewise, the Japanese influence in this album not only reflects the political and economic history of Japonisme and the context of costumer culture. It also parallels the development of ukiyo-e and Japonisme. Rivière’s Thirty-Six Views goes beyond formal imitation by modernizing and westernizing the ukiyo-e landscape tradition of Hokusai’s time.
Recommended Citation
Liu, Yen-Hua, "Japonisme and Modernity in Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower by Henri Riviere" (2021). All ETDs from UAB. 843.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/843
