Eugène Atget

Josiane Sartre

Suzanne Tise-Isoré

Bibliothèque des arts décoratifs (Paris, France)

"Eugene Atget is renowned as one of the greatest photographers of the turn of the twentieth century. From 1898 onwards, he began to record, methodically, an urban yet intimate Paris as seen through the city's streets, its hotels particuliers, shops, fountains, and churches. His photographs of courtyard doorways, signs, door knockers, balconies, stairway banisters, and carved panels constitute an impressive collection of decorative documents that he made available to artists, institutions, and collectors under the name of Paris pittoresque or L'Art dans le vieux Paris." "Atget captures starkly lit architectural motifs and decorative details, giving them an almost abstract quality, as if they were museum pieces. The 350 photographs selected here reveal this unique perspective, amply demonstrating why Atget's work was to have such an enduring influence on the artistic avant-garde of the twentieth century." "Not surprisingly, Atget's work rapidly caught the interest of the directors of the Bibliotheque des Arts decoratifs in Paris. The Bibliotheque's collection contains no less than 6,000 albumen-mounted photographs, purchased between 1900 and 1926. This book aims to reveal, through this substantial collection, the photographic journey of an artist whose measured, orderly compositions, devoid of human presence, are imbued with a mysterious poetry. The architectural and artistic legacy they present cannot fail, a century later, to seduce and astonish today's viewer."--Jacket

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