192 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Porte de Choisy, Shacks of the Zoniers (13th arrondissement), 1913 A settlement of shacks made of planks and patched sheet metal, an iron gate left ajar, a cart, debris and scrap metal on the ground, other shacks on the horizon; the National Library’s stamp is visible in the image. Silver print 18.2 x 23.8 cm Inscription on the reverse: Annotations: “Porte de Choisy 1913 (13th)” in ink; in pencil: “Musée Carnavalet & BNF / Oa 173c microfilm G045813 / Collection 1952—Facsimile printed for the documentary ‘Les Heures chaudes de Montparnasse’,” “5” underlined, “1),” framing sketch with marker “2)” Provenance: former Jean-Marie Drot collection Bibliography: *Atget Paris*, introduction by Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Paris, Hazan, 1992, reproduced on p. 634. 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 “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 Monuments Historiques, 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.