Eugene Atget Appreciation

Alan Edward Klein · 2026-04-04T10:13:35-0400

koraks said:
Factually speaking this doesn't happen a lot at all here on Photrio.
Factually speaking what happened in this thread was a fairly innocuous pun that resulted in a brief and polite exchange of the possible motivations of this small part of Atget's work. This happened on pp24-25 of a long thread where pretty much everything we know about the man has been said, by now. The fact that this dimension of his work is also touched upon is fair & square especially in the manner it was done.

The only thing that's slightly disruptive to the thread is the framing of a nonexistent problem. It's disrespectful to those who intended and succeeded in conducting an inherently respectful exchange of views.

Live & let live, and if there's a problem, use the 'report' function instead of trying to 'solve' it by pouring a mixture of acid and gasoline on it.

I saw nothin'. I heard nothin'. I know nothin'.

Vaughn · 2026-04-04T17:32:06-0400

cliveh said:
I would agree with this. Many threads seem to be debased in this way.

Yes and often enough that such flippery like making a pun about women's breasts is one of the reasons we do not get many women here expressing their views. They get enough toxic mascalinity in real life. (deleted comment)

Also I meant flippant -- not flippery as in having flippers.

runswithsizzers · 2026-04-04T18:21:29-0400

DREW WILEY said:
Well, the banter can get kinda sophomoric peep-showish at times on some of these forums

Vaughn said:
Yes and often enough that such flippery like making a pun about women's breasts is one of the reasons we do not get many women here expressing their views. They get enough toxic mascalinity in real life.

I would like to second my agreement with what @DREW WILEY and @Vaughn have said. I think it is too common for oafish comments to get lightly dismissed as, "boys will be boys," which may be true enough, but none the less, likely to sound offensive to some forum members.

One litmus test participants might use before posting a comment about female anatomy would be to ask themselves, "Would I say this at the dinner table if my mother, wife, and daughter were present?"

To my ear, the comment, "I've seen better knockers," does not sound like part of an inherently respectful exchange of views on a public forum, and probably should have been self-censored.

Vaughn · 2026-04-04T19:00:13-0400

snusmumriken said:
But not in a lascivious way. It seems like he was seeking classical poses.

This got me thinking, besides selling nude studies to painters, what would work best for cityscape painters. I was going through images of Atget online looking for ferns in the foreground, instead I found a common feature in many of his works -- an open and visually quick to move through foreground. An alley or road, steps, open space, etc. moving through the lower 1/3 of the frame or so. This would be expected, it is natural to construct a path for the eye to travel up into one's image. But also I think it would be a good composition style for images to be sold to painters...they would be free to create their own foreground and make it their own painting while taking advantage of the camera perspective..

Eugene Atget Appreciation

Alan Edward Klein

Vaughn

runswithsizzers

Vaughn

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