109 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) A la Tour d'Argent, 18 rue Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois (1st arrondissement), 1902 Street corner: a wine shop with “Commerce de vins” painted on both facades, large arches, a sign reading “A la Tour d’Argent,” and a tower painted on the cut-off corner; inscriptions reading “…de Saumur mousseux” and “Restaurant—Cuisine bourgeoise”; a woman in an apron and a seated man pose near the tables on the terrace; street signs, “Laundry” on the left, cobblestone pavement. Silver print 23.3 x 18.1 cm Inscription on the reverse: Pencil annotation: “A la Tour d’Argent, 18 rue St Germain l’Auxerrois (1st arr.) – 1902 BNF,” “p. 63” Provenance: former Jean-Marie Drot collection Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 63. 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 “reference material 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.