156 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Porte Dauphine, Fortification Moat (16th arrondissement), 1913 Trees with twisted trunks and low-hanging branches on the embankment of the moat; foliage and grasses bathed in light. Silver print 23.8 x 18.2 cm Inscription on the reverse: Annotations: “Porte Dauphine / Fortification moat / 1913 (16th)” in ink; in pencil: “Va 235 [?] in-fo Topography [?] G045860 / BNF” Provenance: former Jean-Marie Drot collection Born in Libourne in 1857, Eugène Atget was a sailor and then 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 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.