183 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Poterne des Peupliers, a woodcutter’s hut (13th arrondissement), 1913 A shack made of planks and tarpaulin, topped by a stove pipe; a pile of crates, baskets, a barrel, and stones; a surrounding wall; and trees in the background. Silver print 18.2 × 23.8 cm Inscription on the reverse: Annotation in ink: “Poterne des Peupliers. 1913 (13th Arrond.)” Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot 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 photographed old Paris for nearly forty years: 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.