Notre-Dame de Paris 1901

Frédéric Houbron made this painting of Notre-Dame de Paris with what looks like oil on canvas, though he works almost like a watercolourist. The touch is so light! Houbron is interested in light and atmosphere, and the way a building or place can be built from a constellation of marks. It's a method which acknowledges painting as a process, rather than a picture being set down perfectly, first time. Look at the way he renders the clouds in relation to the towers of the cathedral: dabs of white and blue articulate a feeling of infinite space. This is carried through in the treatment of the stone work. Look closely and you'll see it is comprised of many colours. It's a bit like Monet, though Houbron seems less interested in dissolving form than in building it up, little by little. There's a touch of Whistler in the atmospheric perspective here. But with Houbron, there’s also a down-to-earth quality; people milling about, getting on with their day. It reminds me that art is a conversation, a playful and intuitive process where artists riff off each other.