116 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) A la Grappe d'Or, 4 Place d'Aligre (12th arrondissement), 1912 Cast-iron sign: a bunch of grapes at the center of a wreath of vine leaves atop crossed thyrses, above the inscription “A la Grappe d’Or”; a glass door between iron bars, a show poster on the right, and a banner reading “Specialty…” at the top. Silver print 23.8 x 18.2 cm Inscription on the reverse: Pencil annotations: “A la Grappe d’Or, 4 Place d’Aligre (12th Arrondissement), 1912, BNF,” “p. 617,” “1),” “7”; two vertical framing lines Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 617. 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.