129 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Fried Food Stand, Rue de Seine (6th arrondissement) Entrance to a fried food stand: large pot, stove topped with basins, scale, buckets of potatoes, hanging paper cones, lampshade; sign reading “…Ballet… cabinets… furniture 10…” on the left. Silver print 23.8 x 18.2 cm Inscription on the reverse: Annotations: “Fried food shop, Rue de Seine” in ink; in pencil: “Photo 3,” “1),” “X2” in the center Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Born in Libourne in 1857, Eugène Atget worked as a sailor and then as an actor before devoting himself to photography around 1890. Based 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 Historic Monuments department, 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.