107 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Au Soleil d'Or, 84 rue Saint-Sauveur (2nd arrondissement), 1907 A sign carved in high relief (a radiant sun and a trophy) set in an arch above the storefront reading “Bossant – Wine Merchant,” with iron gates; the owner, wearing a white apron, stands on the threshold with two small dogs, and a woman in an apron stands at the door of the neighboring “Maison Beau… ” next door. Silver print 18.2 x 23.3 cm Inscription on the reverse: Pencil annotation: “(2nd Arr.) Au Soleil d’Or, 84 rue St Sauveur, closed in 1913. Photo 1907, BNF print,” “p. 170” Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 170. Born in Libourne in 1857, Eugène Atget was a sailor and then 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 a record 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.