Les Paradis Perdus – Mixed Media Collage on Wood

The Original

Les Paradis Perdus by Robin Rivers is an original piece of mixed media collage on wood from the Albertine Series. I created this piece using antique postcards, archival materials, found photography, handmade papers, and acrylic medium. 

The piece measures 15×17″ (w/h) unframed and is mounted on wood. Shipping will be calculated based on location.  Please note that colours and contrast vary between different monitors.  The colours may not match your monitor’s display exactly. Additionally, copyright of my artwork does not transfer with purchase.

The Inspiration for Les Paradis Perdus by Robin Rivers

Paris, the city of light, romance, wonder. At times, it may seem cliché. But, what of its magic? Its way of drawing one in and reconstructing how we perceive the world? Through the Social Landscapes series, I wanted to explore cultural memory keeping through the lens of romanticism. Each piece transforms single antique postcards from often-anonymous Parisian street photographers into complex narratives that stretch the boundaries of memory and time through the inclusion of archival photography, original photography shot by the artist, and layers of writing, handmade papers, and ephemera. Each piece begins with the romance of the city and expands into the broader social realities of Belle Époque Paris, incorporating archival materials and historical figures to explore how individual longing intersects with the cultural currents of the era.

Les Paradis Perdus is inspired by the Champs-Elysées, along with the vintage Vue de Nuit postcards of the early 20th century. It speaks to a moment when Henri runs into a woman along the Champs-Elysées who he thinks, at first, is Albertine. They spend the day together and he learns of her life as a struggling garment worker. It is set c. 1900–1907, against the glitter of night boulevards and the precarious hours of garment work and explores the unspoken sacrifices women made to maintain the image of the Golden Age of Paris.

Sources

• • Paris Musées (CC Zero)
    • Album de vues de Paris. [Champs Elysées – vue nocturne], Patras, (c. 1920-30) (CC0)
    • Juliette Drouet’s letters to Victor Hugo (1849) (CC0)
    • Sunday Journal newspaper article and photo of garment workers, Derrière le décor, l’autre vérité de la Belle Epoque, Original photo was published in the late 19th century. Article published Dec. 30, 1979.  (CC0)
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (public domain)
    • Onésipe Aguado de las Marismas, Woman Seen from the Back (1862) (PD)
    • Fan (French), late 19th century, Bequest of Catherine D. Wentworth, 1948 (PD)
    • Emile Hurtré and Jules C. Wielhorski, Design for a wall decoration with peacock, cranes, and sunflowers for the restaurant in Hotel Langham (Paris) (1896-98) (PD)
    • Photo, Charles Merville, Arts et Metiers, Arts et Métiers (Ancien Modèle) (1864) (PD)
  • Artist materials
    • Handmade papers, vellum, acrylic matte medium

Notes on Care

Albertine is a love story at heart. I build each collage from public‑domain materials—primarily found pieces, Paris Musées archives and The Met Open Access—and note what’s known about dates and collections. While the work leans into romance, I set Henri and Albertine within the city’s real textures: its boulevards and bright nights, and the lives working behind the light. Where details are uncertain, I mark them as circa. My aim is to honor the past—its beauty and its blemishes—while inviting you into a story that feels intimate and true to its time.

The Artist

Robin Rivers is a multidisciplinary storyteller. She explores cultural memory keeping and technologies of circulation—how stories and images travel between people and across generations. Her practice folds writing and original photography into her mixed-media collage process. She examines how documented archives and personal interpretation shape our shared understanding of the past and how preservation itself is shaped by power, privilege, and historical upheaval. Robin creates all pieces at Studio Albertine in Vancouver, Canada—on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples. This includes the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

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