93 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) At the Vieux Chêne, 69 Rue Mouffetard (5th arrondissement), 1911 High-relief carved sign depicting an oak tree on the facade; storefront reading “Wines – Coffee - Liqueurs,” display windows reading “Wine & Marc de Bourgogne” and “Dish of the Day,” fluted column, streetlamp, and brooms hanging on the left, cobblestone street; the National Library’s stamp visible in the image. Silver print 23.7 x 18.3 cm Inscription on the reverse: Pencil annotation: “Au vieux chêne 69 rue Mouffetard (5th Arr) - 1911 - BNF,” “p. 334 ” Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 334. 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 Monuments Historiques, 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.