Paris

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When Eugène Atget (1857–1927) roamed through Paris with a heavy plate camera, he was aware that he was documenting a vanishing world. He photographed small tradespeople, prostitutes, alleys, courtyards, and architectural details to create a comprehensive photographic documentation of his adopted home. While his images also served as souvenirs or templates for painters like Georges Braque and André Derain, Atget saw himself as an urban archaeologist. During his lifetime, he remained largely unknown, as his precise, documentary photography contrasted with the preferred painterly soft-focus style of his time. In the 1920s, the Dada and Surrealist movements, led by Man Ray, discovered his work. Four of his images were published in the Surrealist journal La Révolution surréaliste, and Man Ray and other artists acquired his photographs. Atget gained posthumous recognition through articles and a monograph by Berenice Abbott, who had met him shortly before his death through Man Ray. His influence is still felt today, and he is regarded as a pioneer of early photographic art. Approximately 500 of his photographs are gathered in this volume, with his plates preserved in institutions such as the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.