Atget's Paris

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the photographer Eugene Atget embarked on a single-handed project to record for posterity the face of "vieux Paris" at a time when the city was undergoing rapid change. "Atget's Paris" brings together his photographs in a single volume, reflecting the scope and nature of his efforts to capture the daily life of the "Ville Lumiere", and to record its boulevards and buildings. This selection of over 800 photographs, arranged by district, is concerned primarily with exteriors. Atget's views of Parisian parks and streets, mostly taken in the early morning light, frequently suggest a mysteriously deserted city, yet they have an evocative, poetic quality. The photographer's keen eye also saw the potential of architectural details such as doorknockers, trade signs, shopfronts or balconies. When he turned to people, he gave them centre stage, whether as part of the daily urban round or as representatives of the ordinary tradespeople associated with the "petits metiers" of Paris. Atget's aimed to preserve the picturesque and unexpected aspects of a vanishing scene, occasionally touched with sadness or with humour.
His legacy, now preserved in public collections in France, London and New York, remained largely unknown outside specialist circles until the 1960s, but it is now recognized as an invaluable record of a past era.