100 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) At the Cherche-Midi, 19 rue du Cherche-Midi (6th arrondissement) Facade adorned with a sculpted medallion beneath a garland (the Cherche-Midi sign), “J. Laurans” and “…bookbinder-gilder” shops, a painted storefront reading “Wines - Beer - Liqueurs,” three children under the entrance porch, cobblestone street. Silver print 23.7 x 18.2 cm Inscription on the reverse: Ink annotation: “Le Cherche-Midi, 19 rue du Cherche-Midi. ”; round sticker bearing the number “1” Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 478. 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.