Eugene Atget, Un Photographe Si Discret

Eugène Atget (1857–1957), a well-known name to all fervent admirers of old Paris, is one of the 20th-century’s most renowned photographers. Recognised by the Surrealists (Man Ray and Robert Desnos) shortly before his death, in the 1930s he became known as the pioneer of documentary photography, both American (Walker Evans, Berenice Abbott, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, etc.) and French (Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Izis, Willy Ronis, etc.). In Germany, however, Walter Benjamin was also noteworthy in this genre. Thus, Atget was an illustrious unknown. Very little is known of his childhood, his career as a comedian, his contributions as a painter, or his debut as a photographer. We know nothing about the influence that such talented predecessors as Marville, Charles Nègre or Hyppolyte Bayard might have had on him and he left no account behind describing his work. All that we have left to give us some insight about him are thousands of prints found for the most part in prominent French and American institutions. Jacques Bonnet’s book is the first to deal with the multiple aspects of Atget’s legacy: his biography, the recognition of his works in the decades following his death, his place in the history of documentary photography and in the tradition of 19th-century Paris’ leading photographers, his “discreet” approach, the revival of his work in the United States in the 1970’s and certain often-neglected categories of his prints: his numerous photographs of trees, brothels, and erotic nudes.