Lilly (Lili) Hofmann Steiner used the direct medium of drypoint to achieve the deep, velvety blacks of the base of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. She gives scale to the massive structure using a series of small, vertical lines in the lower half of the composition which read as human figures. The tower itself stretches beyond the image and the platemark.
This plate was made in 1923, the year that Gustave Eiffel (the tower's creator) had died. Steiner and her husband, Hugo Steiner were involved in the world of contemporary architecture. The Steiner House in Vienna in 1910 was designed by architect Adolf Loos and became one of his signature designs.
As an artist, Lilly Hofmann Steiner first exhibited in public in 1917. She was a member of the 'Hagenbund', which was founded in 1899, and was a founding member of the Print Club of Viennese artists. In 1927 the Steiners moved to Paris where her work received the acceptance that had eluded her in Austria.