Buhot in Paris

Many of Buhot’s best-known images depict the streets of nineteenth-century Paris, particularly around the Place Pigalle, near his studio. These images show the great diversity of activity along the Boulevard de Clichy, at the southern edge of Montmartre, which was quickly developing into a bohemian artist’s enclave at the end of the nineteenth century. Buhot first arrived in Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1865, at the height of Baron Georges Haussmann’s renovation of the city, and in addition to the taverns and cabarets which were common throughout Montmartre, Buhot’s prints highlight public spaces that became prevalent in “New Paris.” Significant consideration is also given to depictions of funerary processions, which regularly passed by Buhot’s studio along the Boulevard de Clichy en route to the Montmartre cemetery, the second largest in Paris. Although Buhot traveled widely during his lifetime, Paris served as his home base, and from 1873 onward he frequently turned to the city for inspiration for his etchings.