George Elbert Burr, born Monroe Falls, - (Sketchbook) Old Street, Ouchy - 1899 - T-Shirt

A pencil study of stepped building fronts, rows of windows and a diagonal stairway on a sloping street in Ouchy, drawn on a single sketchbook page.

Visual Elements & Composition

The drawing is set on an off-white field with soft grey and dark teal accents, so the pencil lines carry the whole image. Plain walls rise across the scene, broken by small rectangular windows, several shaded dark enough to anchor the eye. A band of roofline runs across the top, while a stairway cuts from the lower right toward the centre, flanked by low walls and steps. Nothing is written on the page; the composition is built entirely from angles, openings and repetition.

Meaning & Symbolism

The scene is a street in Ouchy, the lakeside district of Lausanne, where buildings step down toward the water. Sketches like this were the preparatory work of American painter and etcher George Elbert Burr, who spent time in Europe producing views of towns and buildings. Recording the angles of houses, stairs and walls on the spot was how travelling artists studied the structure of a sloping town. The image reads as quiet observation: the geometry of the street matters more than any event within it.

Built for Close Study

Like a sketchbook page, this artwork rewards a closer look, with the windows and stair lines revealing more the nearer you get. Printed across the chest, the sketch keeps its original calm and its focus on structure, letting the drawing of a working artist speak for itself.