Hippolyte Blancard, a pharmacist and amateur photographer, documented Parisian architecture leading up to the 1889 Exposition Universelle, or World’s Fair, an international event held in Paris to showcase new innovations, geographic and scientific discoveries, and works of art. This series of photographs shows the construction of the Eiffel Tower, which was conceived as the entrance to the World’s Fair. Blancard’s photographs document the tower’s progression, from July 1887 to April 1889.
The public reacted strongly to the Eiffel Tower. Some people called it unsightly, a “stain” on the Paris skyline. One critic disparaged it as “a truly tragic street lamp.” Many artists, however, embraced the Eiffel Tower as a symbol of modernity and the avant-garde. Gustave Eiffel, the tower’s builder and designer, responded to the criticism in a newspaper interview, saying, “For my part I believe that the tower will possess its own beauty. Are we to believe that because one is an engineer, one is not preoccupied by beauty in one’s constructions or that one does not seek to create elegance as well as solidity and durability?” Initially, the plan was to demolish the tower 20 years after its completion, but instead it became a defining icon of the Parisian cityscape.