The Paris Bridge-and-sTaTue sTroll

T he Paris Bridge-and-Statue Stroll > The Paris heritage strolls
Pont de la Tournelle
pa r i s h e r i ta g e : s i g h t s a n d i n s i g h t s
08 The Paris Bridge-and-Statue Stroll
from the pont de la tournelle to pont mirabeau
The Paris heritage strolls
>>> The capital’s main bridges were either built or rebuilt in the
19th century, a time when decoration was de rigueur on any structure
of any importance. Given the extra weight and stress that statues
put on bridges, they usually stand on piers and preferably on piers
sunk in dry land. However, the Pont Alexandre III is an impressive
exception.
>>> This bridge was built not only to convey traffic, but to astound
visitors and heads of state attending the 1900 Universal Exposition.
The 160-meter, imperial promenade over the Seine features elegant
statues glorifying the nation’s wealth and resources at either end
and exquisitely wrought streetlamps.
>>> The Bonaparte-era Pont d’Iéna, however, and Pont de l’Alma
(part of Napoleon III’s public works) commemorate battle victories.
Whatever the message in their statuary, bridges and their works
of art connect city districts at the same time as they span the gap
between citizens and the political programme of the day.
>>> In the late 1800s, popular taste appreciated an expressive
synthesis between ornamentation and engineering, exemplified by Pont
Bir-Hakeim. After 1900, though, bridge statuary was thought of
as detracting from the sheer beauty of the technical feat, and it fell out
of favour.
As you stroll about Paris, you may notice
markers indicating how high flood waters
rose in 1910. The badly damaged Pont de la
Tournelle stayed partially underwater until it
was rebuilt in the 1920s by architects Pierre
and Louis Guidetti.
The statue towering over the Left Bank end
of the bridge represents Paris’s patroness
Saint Geneviève, protecting a little girl (the
city), armed only with faith. The sculptor was
Paul Landowski and, as is usual in Paris, the
art aroused a furore.
Landowski wanted the statue looking eastward
because, in St. Geneviève’s time, the Huns
invaded by boat from the east. City councillors,
however, couldn’t bear the idea of their patron saint turning her back to Notre-Dame.
They prevailed, and 1928 was the last time a
statue was placed atop a Paris bridge.
Pont-Neuf
Which king was first to return to a pedestal
in Paris after the Revolution and the Empire?
The 16th-century monarch Henri of Navarre,
who promised a chicken in every pot, has
always enjoyed the affection of Parisians.
A temporary plaster statue by Roguier was
placed on the Pont Neuf in May 1814 to
welcome King Louis XVIII back to Paris. It was
replaced in 1818 by the equestrian bronze
by François-Frédéric Lemot, cast from the
statue of Napoleon Bonaparte removed from
the Colonne Vendôme. An Arc of Triumph was
set up behind the piece for its inauguration
day, with a joyous crowd cheering.
Two bas-reliefs were added to the pedestal
in 1820. The first depicts a generous Henri IV
handing out bread to Parisians, and the second his triumphant 1594 entrance into the
city. These illustrations from the legend of the
good 16th-century king promoted détente
with the restored 19th-century monarchy after
two and a half decades of upheaval.
Pont du Carrousel
Today’s bridge dates from the late 1930s. It
replaced a structure built upstream on plans
by Polonceau during the July Monarchy
(1830-1848). Despite initial hesitations, Louis
Petitot’s four marble statues gracing either
end of the old bridge were included in the
new structure. The Right Bank groups are
allegories of Industry and Abundance, confident symbols of commerce and wealth. Industry
was given Mercury’s caduceus and wings, while
Abundance has a jewellery box. They refer
to the economic impact of the bridge. The
figures on the Left Bank represent the public
nature of the work, with the Seine and the City
of Paris as characters. By fostering exchanges
between the Left and Right Banks, the bridge
contributes to Paris’s industrial and commercial development - as King Louis-Philippe
noted in his inaugural speech. The statues
originally stood on cast-iron pedestals
large enough to house tollbooths.
Pont Alexandre III
For the Paris 1900 Universal Exposition, the
city erected a new and richly decorated bridge,
the Pont Alexandre III, to celebrate the new
Franco-Russian alliance.
In the centre of the high arch, on the upstream
side, a group of Seine River nymphs bearing
the arms of the city of Paris mirrors the
nymphs of the Neva River carrying the arms
of Russia on the downstream side. Sculptor
Georges Récipon, who also created the
Grand Palais quadrigae, designed these
lovely hammered copper compositions.
Plans for sculpted allegories of the reigns of
King Louis XIV and Russia’s Peter the Great
were dropped in favour of a less controversial
subject: Highlights from French History. Left
Bank figures feature France and the Renaissance and France under Louis XIV sculpted
by Coutan and Marqueste. On the Right
Bank, we find France under Charlemagne and
Contemporary France by Lenoir and Michel.
The gilded allegories high atop the pedestals
on the Right Bank are the Arts and Sciences,
turned toward the Grand and the Petit Palais.
Their companion pieces on the Left Bank
pedestals are the allegories of industry and
commerce by Steiner and Granet.
Matching carved stone groups also grace
the bridge’s parapets. The lions and children
are the work of Dalou and Gardet. The geniuses with seashells on the Right Bank were
sculpted by Morice, known for his monument
on Place de la République. Massoule carved
those on the Left Bank side.
Pont de l’Alma
Pont des Invalides
Here is yet another Universal Exposition
bridge. This one dates back to 1855, when
the fair was held on the Avenue des ChampsÉlysées. It spanned the Seine between those
grounds and the old soldiers’ home known
as Les Invalides.
The central pier serves as a pedestal for
twin victory figures representing battles
won at sea (on the bridge’s downstream side)
and on land (on the upstream side). Sculptors
Victor Vilain and Georges Diebolt celebrated
Napoleon III’s victories in Crimea. The bridge’s
decoration was completed in 1862 with the
installation over the side piers of a high-relief
carving by Bosio entitled Les Trophées. The
bridge suffered structural damage from the
raging ice flood of January 1880 (cf. Claude
Monet’s painting La Débâcle de la Seine ).
In the restoration, a Medusa head crowned
with laurel leaves replaced the imperial crown
that had previously decorated the shield in
the centre of Les Trophées.
After this bridge was completed to commemorate the Franco-British victory over the
Russian army in Crimea, Napoleon III commissioned artists Georges Diebolt and Auguste
Arnaud to glorify four types of military combatants on the bridge piers. The upstream
side sported Diebolt’s Grenadier and Zouave.
Arnaud’s artilleryman and infantryman faced
downstream. The four were inaugurated on
15 August 1858, precisely 89 years after the
birth of Bonaparte, whom Napoleon III wished
to emulate.
The Zouave was the only statue to regain its
place when the bridge was rebuilt in the
1970s to accommodate the new riverside
expressway. It survived thanks in part to
Parisians’ affection for it as water level gauge.
This particular monument is the subject of
at least three well-known French songs.
Pont d’Iéna
Your next stop is the Pont d’Iéna, where
more military statues await you. Napoleon
Bonaparte had planned to honour four
Grande Armée generals killed in the 1806
Prussian campaign with equestrian statues.
Waterloo intervened. Nevertheless, the
decoration, commissioned in 1850, reflects
the original plan to a certain degree.
The four groups of sculpture installed on
the bridge depict horses led by warriors of
different nationalities. The Arab by Feuchère
and the Greek by Delvaux stand on the Left
Bank. The Gallic warrior by Préault and the
Roman by Daumas stand on the Right Bank.
Commissioned in 1850, these works, completed under the Second Empire, evoke the
traditional representation of Castor and Pollux.
The choice of subject may also have been
related to the fact that the Champ de Mars,
to which the bridge leads, was then being used
as a horse racing track.
The eagles on the piles sculpted by Barye in
1850 replaced the numeral of King Louis XVIII,
which in turn had replaced Napoleon’s imperial eagle. History flows like the river beneath
the span of this bridge.
Pont de Bir-Hakeim
This steel bridge’s originality is that it is
double-tiered. The bottom span carries motorized and pedestrian traffic while the top
one accommodates métro trains. Designed
in 1900, the bridge was the epitome of
modernity. The four massive statues standing in the middle are Science and Labour
by Coutan, and Electricity and Commerce by
Injalbert. Where the arches taper down to
meet the piers, Gustave Michel shows figures
of ironworkers and mariners in action, plying
their trades. The powerful ironworkers are
hammering the cartouche onto the piling.
The boat in the mariners’ cartouche is central
in the city’s coat of arms.
The Paris Bridge-and-Statue Stroll > The Paris heritage strolls
In 1930, a group entitled La France Renaissante was placed on the upstream belvedere
of the bridge. This controversial depiction
of Joan of Arc by Wederkinch was a gift of
the Paris Danish community.
Pont Mirabeau
The Statue of Liberty looking downstream
from Pont de Grenelle is a smaller scale replica
of the one in New York’s harbour. Purchased
for the City of Paris by the American community, this Liberty was originally supposed
to decorate the 16th arrondissement square,
Place des États-Unis, where another piece by
Bartholdi glorifies Washington and Lafayette,
heroes of America’s War of Independence.
However, for the 1889 Universal Exposition,
the bronze replica of Lady Liberty was installed atop a piling on the upstream side of
Pont de la Grenelle. When the bridge was
rebuilt in the 1960s, the statue was moved
to where it now stands, on an isolated
pedestal on the tip of Île des Cygnes, looking
downstream. Sculptor Frédéric Auguste
Bartholdi’s wish that his work would face its
sister across the Atlantic was finally fulfilled.
all the strolls are available on the site :
www.culture.paris.fr
The Direction des Affaires Culturelles de la Ville de Paris supervises
the maintenance of over 600 statues and commemorative monuments.
Most of these works of art date from the late 19th century, the early
years of the Third Republic of France. They are the product of an active
municipal policy to decorate the capital’s squares and streets.
Some are masterpieces of French sculpture, like Carpeaux’s La Fontaine
des quatre parties du monde and Dalou’s Le Triomphe de la République.
The 20th century has been less productive in this domain. But over
the past twenty years, the City of Paris has revived the policy of ordering
sculpture for public spaces. In 2004, the Comité de l’Art dans la Ville
was set up. This committee is composed of art experts and elected
officials who, between the years 2004 and 2008, coordinated 35 orders
commissioned by the city for permanent and temporary works for public
display. Here are a few examples you may wish to scout out in Paris:
Wang Du’s Tour d’exercice displayed in the 17th arrondissement, Chen Zhen’s
Danse de la fontaine émergente in the 13th, and the Berlin artist group
Inges Idee’s Forêt de candélabres in the 19th.
Find all the Velib’ stations
on www.velib.paris.fr
Mairie de Paris / Directions des affaires culturelles - Graphic design :
, Juliane Cordes 01 43 46 75 00 © Ville de Paris - C. Fouin, J.M. Moser, C. Pignol - Translation: David Cox, Anita Conrade
Pont de Grenelle
Our tenth leg on this excursion sweeps us
downstream to a sleek, modern span celebrated by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire.
In stark contrast to Pont Alexandre III, this
bridge hides nothing of its engineering. The
statuary is all beneath the bridge, on the piers,
which represent vessels. They are bearing
pairs of female figures symbolizing commerce
and abundance, on one side, and on the
other, navigation and the City of Paris. What
is particularly interesting here is how the
bronzes are positioned on the pilings, and
the dynamism of the sculptural rendering.
The ladies seem to have been caught in action
piloting their craft upstream or down, in fanciful
contrast to the sternly streamlined architecture of the bridge.
1
Sainte-Geneviève (P.Landowski)
2
Henri IV (F. Lemot)
3
The Abundance, the Industry, the Seine and the City of Paris (L. Petitot)
4
Statuary program representing great periods in French history (G. Récipon,
J. Coutan, L. Marqueste, A. Lenoir, G. Michel, E. Fremiet, Cl. Steiner,
P. Granet, J. Dalou, G. Gardet, L. Morice, A. Massoule)
5
Victory figures (V. Vilain, G. Diebolt). Army victories (A.S. Bosio)
6
Le Zouave (G. Diebolt)
7
Military heroes (J.-J. Feuchère, F. Delvaux, A. Préault, L. Daumas)
8
Blacksmiths and mariners (G. Michel)
9
Liberty Enlightening the World (A. Bartholdi)
10 Commerce and Abundance allegories and the City of Paris figures
(A. Injalbert)
Velib’ station
stations Velib’