EUGENE ATGET

About Eugène Atget

Eugène Atget (1857-1927) was a French photographer best known for his photographs of Paris and its environs. He supplied studies for painters, architects, and stage designers, while also making formally complex pictures. Atget’s subjects included everything from grand buildings to typical street scenes, storefronts and workers. His photographs, often taken in the early hours, are notable for their diffuse light and wide views that give a sense of enigma and mystery. They also document Paris and its rapid changes; many of the areas Atget photographed were soon to be razed as part of widespread modernization projects.

Atget drew the admiration of a variety of artists, most notably Man Ray who even used one of Atget’s photographs on the cover of the magazine La Révolution surréaliste. The photographer Berenice Abbott preserved many of Atget’s prints and negatives. She exhibited his work, wrote about it, and for decades championed Atget as a forerunner of modern photography.