111 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Aux Deux Pigeons, 8 rue Clément (6th arrondissement), 1902 Cabaret doorway framed by fluted pilasters with Ionic capitals adorned with masks; a carved sign depicting two doves pecking at each other above a quiver, a torch, and arrows; grilles on the storefront. Silver print 23.7 x 18.2 cm Inscription on the reverse: Pencil annotation: “Aux 2 Pigeons 8 rue Clément (demolished in 1905) – 1902 – BNF 6th arr. ,” “p. 468” Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 468. 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.