ARTISTS
Eugène Atget: old Paris
Lose yourself in the beauty of old Paris with over 200 rare and original prints from the founder of documentary photography.
His wooden bellows camera, tripod, glass plates and printing techniques may link him to 19th-century photography but the vision of Eugène Atget (1857–1927) was an astonishingly modern one. His work inspired artists and photographers such as Brassaï, the Surrealists, Walker Evans, and Bernd and Hilla Becher.
The best of Atget is in his images of ‘old Paris’ – the buildings, shops, gardens and streets – in which he shows us a city remote from the clichés of the Belle Époque.
Considered a commercial photographer, he sold what he called ‘documents for artists’, ie photographs of landscapes, close-up shots, genre scenes and other details that painters could use as reference. When he turned his attention to photographing the streets of Paris, leading institutions such as Musée Carnavalet and the Bibliothèque Nationale became his principal clients.
This is the first comprehensive exhibition in Australia of Atget’s work. It showcases over 200 photographs, primarily from Musée Carnavalet, Paris, with the important inclusion of his images, as compiled by Man Ray, from the collection of George Eastman House, Rochester, USA. The Art Gallery of NSW is the only Australian venue.
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Lose yourself in the beauty of old Paris with over 200 rare and original prints from the founder of documentary photography.
His wooden bellows camera, tripod, glass plates and printing techniques may link him to 19th-century photography but the vision of Eugène Atget (1857–1927) was an astonishingly modern one. His work inspired artists and photographers such as Brassaï, the Surrealists, Walker Evans, and Bernd and Hilla Becher.
The best of Atget is in his images of ‘old Paris’ – the buildings, shops, gardens and streets – in which he shows us a city remote from the clichés of the Belle Époque.
Considered a commercial photographer, he sold what he called ‘documents for artists’, ie photographs of landscapes, close-up shots, genre scenes and other details that painters could use as reference. When he turned his attention to photographing the streets of Paris, leading institutions such as Musée Carnavalet and the Bibliothèque Nationale became his principal clients.
This is the first comprehensive exhibition in Australia of Atget’s work. It showcases over 200 photographs, primarily from Musée Carnavalet, Paris, with the important inclusion of his images, as compiled by Man Ray, from the collection of George Eastman House, Rochester, USA. The Art Gallery of NSW is the only Australian venue.
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