Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2015.

The Seine Floodwaters at the Quai de Billy, Paris, (Crue de la Seine. Quai Debilly, Paris

Artist Préfecture de Police de Paris, Service de l'Identité Judiciaire (French, active 1870 - 1900)

CultureFrench

DateJanuary 1910

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 9 7/16 × 11 13/16 in. (24 × 30 cm)
Overall, Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Frame (estimated): 17 1/4 × 21 1/4 × 1 1/4 in. (43.8 × 54 × 3.2 cm)

InscribedNone

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number2015.13.4

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 228

DescriptionThis is one of a pair of photos showing a flooded street, with a line of buildings to the left and line of trees to the right, bordering a riverbank. It was created on the Quai Debilly in the 16e Arrondissement, just north of the Trocadéro and the Pont d’Iena, facing northeast (with the Seine to the right). Since 1945 the Quai Debilly has been known as the Avenue de New York, and these pictures were made roughly in front of the current No. 52 Avenue de New York, with the gates of the mansion housing the Mona Bismarck American Center for Art and Culture (at 34 Avenue de New York) visible in the distance. Although the flood of 1910 devastated the suburbs, the high banks of the Seine protected much of central Paris from direct threat from the flowing river, with flooding instead caused by water seeping up from tunnels, sewers, and drains. This point on the Quai Debilly, however, was an exception, with a shallow layer of water from the river crossing the street to reach the first line of buildings. Thus, this area of the city was captured by many photographers during the weeks of the flood. This photo was likely taken very near the peak of the flood, which happened on January 28, 1910, with waters well over 6 meters above their normal high levels. See object 2015.13.5.
Label TextUnknown photographer (possibly for the Préfecture de Police de Paris, Service de l’Identité Judiciaire) The Seine Floodwaters at the Quai de Billy, Paris, January 1910, 1910 Gelatin silver print The Seine had periodically flooded Paris for centuries but never more destructively than in the winter of 1910, when the river reached a height of twenty feet above flood stage. The spectacle of the city under water motivated photographers to produce thousands of images for postcards and for documentation, such as this anonymous view archived with the city police. Emptied of human activity, it is an orderly and elegiac scene of untroubled calm in which the floodwaters appear to be less a hazard than an element of the urban topography. Museum purchase 2015.13.4 ProvenanceEstates of photography dealers Hugues Autexier and Francois Braunschweig (both deceased in 1986), former proprietors of Galerie Texbraun, a prominent Paris gallery of early French photography. Acquired at Paris auction in a group of about 30 "Crue de la Seine" photographs by Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc. Purchased from Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc., by Chrysler Museum of Art, September 2015.Exhibition History"New Frames of Reference: Early French Photographers at Home and Abroad," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va, gallery 228, September 5, 2024 - February 16, 2025.