[Robin Joyce] Hi, I'm Dr. Robin Joyce, and I am one of the curators of this exhibition. It may surprise you to see these two prints in a section dedicated to city life. But these are snapshots of Paris in ruins. These two etchings come from a series made by the printmaker Maxim Milan that was eyewitness reporting on the Franco Prussian War as Paris was under siege for several months. This is showing us the ecological devastation that comes with war. We're seeing here traces both of offensive military activity, and also extraction. You see a number of trees that have been chopped down as Parisians were desperate for fuel, for firewood, and were left to extract from their own city parks to survive. If you look in the print of the Bois de Boulogne with the tall trees, look to the right hand side of it, and you'll see little figures moving into the back. You'll see a cart that's being drawn by a horse and you'll see a little street lamp. These are signs that this is not some forest in the countryside. We're in the city. You'll also find in this guide an image of this park before the war, and today. George A. Lucas, whose collection is the basis for this exhibition, was also a witness to the siege of Paris. He was living in the city throughout the entire war, and he acquired this series in its entirety, pretty soon after it was published as one of the handful of works that he bought that are directly related to this trauma that he lived through.

This black-and-white etching of the ruined Avenue de Boulogne in Paris, France measures approximately five inches high by eight and one-third inches wide. The print is part of a series titled Artistic Souvenirs of the Siege of Paris, 1870–1871. In the foreground are the remains of severely damaged trees with jagged stumps and fallen trunks scattered across the ground, showing the aftermath of the Siege of Paris. Lines of tree stumps, some with damage that was likely caused by both weapons and harvesting, stretch from the foreground into the middle ground.  A few tall trees with sparse, thinning canopies still stand amid the wreckage. The wide Avenue de Boulogne runs along the right side of the composition, while a distant line of trees stretches across the horizon. The rest of Paris is visible beyond the line of trees. Several figures stand among the tree stumps while others walk or drive carts along the road toward church spires and clustered buildings in the distance. But these figures appear tiny alongside the remaining trees and the scale of devastation. A lone streetlamp along the road indicates that this is an urban park landscape and not the countryside. The sky is lightly clouded, and the overall mood is somber and desolate.

This black-and-white etching of a destroyed park landscape measures approximately five inches high and eight and one-quarter inches wide. It is part of a series titled Artistic Souvenirs of the Siege of Paris, 1870–1871. In the foreground, several large tree stumps, cut logs, and a fallen tree lie around a pond, suggesting recent deforestation or land clearing done during the siege. A small human figure sits on a massive fallen tree trunk. Scattered figures are visible walking on the far side of the pond as well. Trees with thinning branches and sparse leaves stand in the far distance as rays of sunshine break through a cloudy sky.