97 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) A la Treille d'Or, 6 rue de Condé (6th arrondissement), 1900 A wine merchant’s storefront enclosed by tall iron gates, featuring an oval wrought-iron sign reading “A la Treille d'Or” amid foliage and flowers, a “Royer [?]” banner above the door, bottles and glasses lined up behind the bars, wooden base; the National Library’s stamp visible in the image. Silver print 23.7 x 18.2 cm Inscription on the reverse: Pencil annotation: “A la Treille d’Or, 6 rue de Condé (closed in 1905) – 1900. BNF (6th arr.)”, “p. 441” Provenance: former Jean-Marie Drot collection Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 441. 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.