Eugène Atget

February 2, 1857 – August 4, 1927

Eugene Atget’s dedication to preserving images of the architecture as well as the minute detail of ordinary Paris and surrounding areas before modernization, has left a record of what the life of 19th century Paris was like.

Bitumiers, 1899-1900, Gelatin silver printing-out-paper print, 6 7/8 x 8 1/4" (17.5 x 21 cm)

Coin de la rue Valette et Panthéon, 1925, Albumen silver print (gold-toned), printed 1978 by Chicago Albumen Works, 7 1/16 x 9 7/16" (18 x 24cm)

Hôtel des Archevêques de Lyon, rue Saint-André-des-Arts, 58, 1900, Albumen silver print, 9 1/4 x 6 7/8" (23.5 x 17.5 cm)

“He did not veer toward excessive concern with technic nor toward the imitation of painting but steered a straight course, making the medium speak for itself in a superb rendering of materials, textures, surfaces, details.”

-Berenice Abbott

Cour, Rue de Valence, June 1922, Gelatin silver print, printed by Berenice Abbott, 8 1/16 x 10" (20.4 x 25.4 cm)

Original print, Matte albumen silver print, 7 x 8 15/16” (17.8 x 22.7 cm)

Un Coin du quai de la Tournelle, 5e arrondissement, 1910-11, Albumen silver print, 6 7/8 x 8 11/16" (17.5 x 22 cm)

(He is the) “Balzac of the camera” -Berenice Abbott

Magasins du Bon Marche. 1926-1927, Albumen silver print, printed 1984 by Chicago Albumen Works, 10 3/8 x 12 3/16" (26.3 x 31 cm)

Hôtel de Chanac, rue de Grenelle, 127, 1901, Albumen silver print, 8 9/16 x 6 15/16" (21.8 x 17.6 cm)

Now that I am approaching old age – that is to say, seventy years old – and have neither heir nor successor, I am worried and tormented about the future of this beautiful collection of negatives, which could fall into hands unaware of its import and ultimately disappear, without benefiting anyone.”

-Eugene Atget, 1920

Saint-Cloud, Evening, 7:00, 1921, Albumen silver print, 6 15/16 x 8 11/16" (17.6 x 22 cm)

91, rue de Turenne, 1911, Albumen silver print, Dimensions: 8 3/8 x 6 11/16 (21.3 x 17 cm)

Chiffonier, 1899-1900, Gelatin silver printing-out-paper print, 8 11/16 x 6 9/16" (22 x 16.7 cm)

Bibliography

Looking at Atget, by Peter Barberie, Philadelphia Museum of Art in association with Yale University Press, New Haven and London, November, 2005

Atget in Philadelphia, New Criterion, October 2005

The Paris that Awoke to Atget’s Lens, The New York Times, October 3, 2010