134 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Small shop, Square du Bon-Marché (7th arrondissement) A wooden refreshment kiosk under the trees in the square, with a sign reading “Au Bon Marché… - Ice Cream,” a “Soda Parisien” plaque, bottles, glasses, and a siphon on the counter, bottle racks and a milk can at the base, and the square’s railing. Silver print 23.8 x 18.2 cm Inscription on the reverse: Annotations: “Small shop, Square Bon Marché” in ink; in pencil: two vertical framing lines, “1” underlined Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 516. 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 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.