A French photographer renowned for his images of architecture and the streets of Paris. He began shooting in 1898 and sold his images to painters, architects and stage designers. His images were noted for their use of diffused light and wide views as they were taken at dawn with a large format camera. These images gave a feeling of space.
His career would span over 35 years but it was around the 1900s that his focus would shift. Paris was being reshaped by a campaign of modernization called ‘Haussannization’. A destructive process that saw Paris change from medieval neighbourhoods to one of broad avenues and public parks. These changes became a major interest for Atget and he established himself as a specialist in ‘pictures of Paris’ as he systematically documented the changes through the city.
According to Mohammadmiri (2018) ‘Rootedness in place’ obliged him to shoot the same place or even a specific tree in a park of Paris over and over to document and archive the changes that happened due to the spread of modernity’. According to Grundberg (1985) some of Atget’s photos are eternal and poetic and strongly reflective of his sense of nostalgia. Grundberg states that ‘More than any other photographer, Atget makes explicit photography’s ability to render all things nostalgic, so that the past seems to ache in us’.
Bibliography
GRUNDBERG, A. (1985): Photography view; Eugene Atget-His art bridged two centuries, in The New York Times. On-line accessed 24/03/2020: https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/10/arts/photography-view-eugene-atget-his-art-bridged-two-centuries.html
Michele Usher 