EUGENE ATGET - MASTERS OF POTOGRAPHY

Unraveling the mystery of Eugène Atget's life and work is easier said than done. Now considered to be one of history's most important photographers, Atget (1857-1927) was relatively unknown during his lifetime.

Posthumously famous for his photographs of the historical, atmospheric Paris (churches, monuments, and buildings, as well as bars, shop windows, street peddlers, and prostitutes), Atget in fact made a humble living, selling his prints mainly to architects, artists, and institutions.

He wrote in 1920, " I may say that I have in my possession all of Old Paris." Indeed, he knew the city like the back of his hand, and had the photographs to prove it.

Atget's categorical, obsessive method of photographing Paris street by street (doorknob by doorknob in some cases) is quite intriguing—one wonders why he chose to spend his life systematically cataloguing Paris's every detail. The answer, if it can be discovered, must be found in the pictures themselves.

Atget has left us with an impeccable and exhaustive record of turn-of-the-century Paris, not to mention a vast collection of subtly spectacular photographs. This volume features 200 of Atget's most impressive images, including many of which have rarely been seen before.