70 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Cabaret, Rue Charles-V (4th arrondissement), entrance to the cabaret “Au Bacchus,” circa 1900 Glass door with lace curtains framed by fluted pilasters topped with capitals adorned with masks; cast-iron transom decorated with two masks of Bacchus in wreaths of grapevines atop crossed thyrses. Print from the National Library produced in 1959; a small circular stamp, likely that of the National Library, appears in the image at the bottom center. Silver gelatin print 24 x 18.4 cm Inscription on the reverse: Annotations in blue ink: “Wine bar on Rue Charles V. (4th arrondissement, Paris)”; in pencil: “Entrance to the ‘AU BACCHUS’ wine bar in 1900 / BNF print from 1959 based on a glass negative” Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Born in Libourne in 1857, Eugène Atget worked as a sailor and then as an actor before devoting himself to photography around 1890. Settling on Rue Campagne-Première, he produced “documents for artists” and spent nearly forty years photographing old Paris: streets, courtyards, storefronts, signs, small trades, parks, and interiors. His thousands of photographs were acquired by the National Library, the Carnavalet Museum, and the Historic Monuments department, which saw them as an inventory of a city in the process of disappearing. Man Ray and the Surrealists, followed by Berenice Abbott—who saved a large portion of his collection—revealed the poetic dimension of his work. He died in Paris in 1927 and is considered one of the fathers of modern documentary photography.