Masque Antique (1923-1924) by Eugène Atget, from the Original, Wooden Framed Art Print

Public domain art from the V&A Museum, London, digitally enhanced in high resolution.

Eugène Atget (1857–1927) took up photography as a professional in the late 1880s. Details of his earlier life are shadowy. He is known to have been a sailor and then an amateur actor, which may account for the ‘stage set’ quality of many of his images. He seems to have lived a largely secluded life in his apartment in Paris.

His project to record ‘Old Paris’ began around 1897 and continued until the 1920s. In it, Atget was driven by the disappearance of buildings as schemes of modernisation swept the city. Ignoring the grand new vistas, he set out to record the character and details of the timeworn streets. He made a stock of prints for sale to artists, museums and libraries, in France and abroad.

Today, however, Atget is admired less as a record photographer and more as a forerunner of Surrealism and of modern approaches to the art of photography. His urban scenes – featuring snatched glimpses, tangential perspectives, odd reflections and bizarre details – convey a distinctly modern experience of the city. In 1936, critic Walter Benjamin described how these images operated beyond their ostensible purpose, appearing unintentionally, but uncannily, like the ‘scene of a crime’.

This shift in perception about Atget’s work began in the last years of his life, when he met Berenice Abbott, a young American working in Paris for the photographer Man Ray. After his death, Abbott bought the remains of his archive and began to promote his work. She was entranced by the strangeness of Atget’s photographs, seeing in them a Surrealist vein as well as a ‘relentless fidelity to fact’ and a ‘deep love of the subject for its own sake’.

The image shown here is part of a portfolio Berenice Abbott printed and published to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of Atget's birth. In total it includes twenty gold-toned gelatin silver prints produced from Atget's original 18 x 24 cm glass negatives. They were published in an edition of 100 numbered sets.

Place great art for your interior decor with this durable wood-framed poster. Frame comes in black or white and is available in seven versatile sizes.

.: Museum-quality custom frames
.: Matte premium paper
.: Plexiglass front
.: For indoor use
.: Multiple sizes