Paris promenade. Eugène Atget’s unique city portrait

A flâneur and photographer at once, Eugène Atget (1857–1927) was obsessed with walking the streets. After trying his hand at painting and acting, the native of Libourne turned to photography and moved to Paris. He supplied studies for painters, architects, and stage designers, but became enraptured by what he called “documents” of the city and its environs. His scenes rarely included people, but rather the architecture, landscape, and artifacts that made up the societal and cultural stage.

Atget was not particularly renowned during his lifetime but in the 1920s came to the attention of the Dada and Surrealist avant-garde through Man Ray. Four of his images, with their particular fusion of mimesis and mystery, appeared in the surrealist journal, La Révolution Surréaliste, while Ray and much of his artistic circle purchased Atget prints. Atget’s fame grew after his death, with several articles and a monograph by Berenice Abbott. Several leading photographers, including Walker Evans and Bill Brandt, have since acknowledged their debt to Atget.

This fresh TASCHEN edition gathers some 500 photographs from the Atget archives at Musée Carnavalet and the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris to celebrate his outstanding eye for the urban environment and evocation of a Paris gone by. Down main streets and side streets, past shops and churches, through courtyards and arcades and the 20 arrondissements, we find a unique portrait of a beloved city and the making of a modern photographic master.

About the series:

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Bookworm’s delight — never bore, always excite!

Captures the photographs of 'old Paris' taken by French photographer Eugene Atget between 1898 and 1924.

French photographer Eugene Atget (February 12, 1857 - August 4, 1927) was best-known for his incredible photographs documenting the architecture and street scenes of Paris. This book showcases the images he captured between 1898 and 1924 - images of the 'old Paris', represented with an almost surreal, dream-like quality. He photographed the seine, the streets, the incredible architecture and the facades of buildings and palaces, the courtyards, apartment interiors, stairwells, parks, shop windows and the urban environment - replete with street traders, fairgrounds and prostitutes - building an enormous artistic documentary collection of the French capital. The book has been published to accompany an exhibition organised by the Mapfre Foundation in collaboration with the Museum Carnavalet in Paris that will travel to the Fotomuseum of Rotterdam and the New Gallery of Sydney.