From the start of its construction in 1887 until the flag was raised on the lightning rod at the top in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was a magnet for eager photographers. This landmark was photographed over and over again throughout the building process. Louis-Emile Durandelle's pictures, structured by tracery, triangles and pyramids,emphasize the Tower's form, while Henri Rivière produced tightly-composed high and low-angle shots of men working on the girders. Alongside them is the work of many other professional and amateur photographers documenting the Tower's journey to completion and beyond. Around 1905, from a balcony in the Avenue du Trocadéro, Gabriel Loppé captured the tower striped with lightning flashes on a stormy night. In the 1930s, its geometrical forms inspired the near-abstract shots of German photo-journalist Else Thalemann. In 1923's surreal classic Paris qui dort René Clair placed his characters at the very top of the Tower; he made a documentary about the landmark six years later.
A wide selection of these fascinating images, taken from the Musée d'Orsay's unrivalled collections, appear in this volume.
