The photographer Tomas van Houtryve's artistic contribution to Paris' Notre-Dame
On 8 December 2024, the world-famous Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris reopened with splendour, barely five years after the devastating fire. In addition to a Belgian restoration company, a landscape architecture firm and a builder of chest organs, a renowned photographer-video artist-cinematographer from our country also put his stamp on the resurrection of that well-known place of worship.
Tomas van Houtryve is versatile and masters many disciplines. Based in Paris, this 50-year-old Belgian photographer, video artist and cinematographer combines investigative journalism, philosophy and imagery to create large-scale works. He employs a wide range of photography techniques, ranging from the typical 19th-century collodion process to thermal imaging and state-of-the-art augmented reality. This has led him to become a multiple award-winning artist who has become particularly notable in Europe and the U.S. for his exhibitions.
For 14 years, van Houtryve was given privileged access to the Parisian architectural icon that is the cathedral, access that began well before the fire and its widely publicised effects and also spanned the entire reconstruction process. Through his lens, the viewer obtains a multifaceted view of no less than 14 years of Notre-Dame, incorporating a variety of seasons, contexts and photographic techniques. For this project, he made use of the collodion process, conventional photo-reporting and even aerial drone video photography. The result is the stunning portfolio entitled 36 Views of Notre Dame, which was published in February 2022 as the cover article of the magazine National Geographic.