149 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) A la Tour d'Argent, 2 rue de Charenton (12th arrondissement), 1904–1906 Storefront of a wine merchant under a large arched entrance with shutters; the inscription “A la Tour d’Argent” on the fascia; iron grilles; a door framed by columns bearing the name “Nidriche [?]”; posters on the adjacent wall (“City of Paris… Major International Music Competition—Notice to Residents,” “That’s What Love Is,” “Hair Loss, Baldness, Alopecia”), No. 2. Silver print 23.8 x 17.2 cm Inscription on the reverse: Annotation in ink: “A la Tour d’Argent, 2 Rue de Charenton. 1904–1906” 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. 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 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.