118 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Les Canettes, Rue des Canettes (6th arrondissement), 1898–1900 Large rocaille bas-relief in a cartouche depicting ducks on the water, the sign that gave the street its name; on the ground floor, a storefront reading “…owned by the proprietor,” a display window labeled “Wines—Liqueurs—Restaurant,” a sculpted mask above a door, and a sign in the shape of an animal’s head in the upper right corner. Silver print 23.8 x 18.3 cm Inscription on the reverse: Pencil annotation: “Les Canettes, rue des Canettes (6th arrondissement) 1898–1900 – BNF,” “p. 459” Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 459. 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.