98 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Empire-style shop, 21 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré (8th arrondissement), 1907–1908 Empire-style antique shop facade: large arched window with a radiating transom, two winged Victories in relief holding crowns on either side of the inscription “Antiquités,” a display window reflecting the street and revealing furniture and lighting fixtures; the National Library’s stamp visible in the image. Silver print 23.8 x 18.2 cm Creases in the lower right corner Note on the reverse: Pencil annotation: “Empire shop 21 Faubourg St. Honoré. (8th arr.) 1907–1908. BNF,” “p562” Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 562. 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.