79 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Cabaret de la Croix d'Or, 54 rue Saint-André-des-Arts (6th arrondissement) Storefront of a “Tabac - Café” closed off by white-painted grilles, with an oval wrought-iron sign featuring scrollwork reading “A la Croix d’Or” above the door; two children are visible behind the glass door; the National Library’s stamp visible in the image. Silver print 24 x 18.5 cm Inscription on the reverse: Pencil annotations: “Cabaret on [54 added above] Rue St André des Arts. (closed in 1911) (1900–1901) BNF / Cabaret de la Croix d’Or,” “p. 417” Provenance: former Jean-Marie Drot collection Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 417. 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 a record 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.