Meet Snapshot: Henri Rivière

Henri Rivière (1864–1951)
Henri Rivière was a painter, stage designer, watercolorist, collector, and author who also directed the shadow theater plays at the Parisian cabaret Le Chat Noir. He made woodblock prints using Japanese methods, influenced by the wave of Japonisme sweeping Paris. Granted access to the Eiffel Tower during its construction, Rivière produced photographs with dramatic silhouettes. In the 1880s and ’90s, he took more than 300 snapshots using a lightweight box camera with glass plates.

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