84 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Cabaret, 34 Quai de l’Hôtel-de-Ville (4th arrondissement) Former cabaret storefront closed off by wrought-iron grilles featuring scrollwork and hearts, wooden door, “Store for Rent” sign, the number 4 painted on the left. Silver print 18.5 x 24 cm Inscription on the reverse: Annotation in ink, written upside down: “Cabaret 34 quai de l’Hôtel de Ville (demolished in 1895) (4th arr.)” Provenance: former Jean-Marie Drot collection 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 “reference material 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.