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Eugene Atget Appreciation

 
I only recently discovered Atget's work and promptly bought the book "Paris". I find his photographs and compositions fascinating, and the tremendous amount of work he did documenting his time. Especially how he preserved in his images long-gone parts of Paris, such as the Cité Doré.

Let me also contribute with two photographs here.

Hôtel du Marquis de Lagrange:




Organ grinder (1898):

 

Doesn't add anything to this thread, but Organ Grinder is one of my favourite photographs
 
Eugene Atget produced contact prints from his negatives and viewed them at the same size as his negatives. Some years ago, I worked at a college that had a theatre with a powerful computer projector giving a cinema size image on a massive screen. I projected several Atget images at this size and they were just out of this world.

 
I've been looking at Atget for several decades and have many of the books. But no matter how many I see I still see new ones, like the one above.
 
Arthurwg said:
I've been looking at Atget for several decades and have many of the books. But no matter how many I see I still see new ones, like the one above.
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Same here. Just took a look at the Wikipedia article: "In the late 1960s Abbott and Levy sold the collection of Atgets to The Museum of Modern Art. As MoMA bought it, the collection contained 1415 glass negatives and nearly 8,000 vintage prints from over 4,000 distinct negatives."

Never realized there were that many. And it's not even the full extent of it. The French government also owns part of the collection:

 
Rare Atget photo with an actual person in it.

 
This is just perfect.

 

This is right, in the sense that some photos, like this one, is almost impossible to do today, except in quite remote areas (even then, there would be the silhouette of a pick-up truck somewhere...). Yet, there is something very modern about it, in that it isn't about something — there is so little here: two walls, a road, few windows that don't give even a hint about who lives there or walks on the cobblestones —, rather, it's about looking at something, no more, maybe, than a single moment of light, at that time, at that place, and holding it still and quiet.

It's very modern. Add color, and you have Luigi Ghirri. Add color and half a pick-up truck way back there, and you have Stephen Shore.

 
 
Although I appreciate what Atget did, especially from a documentary/historical point of view, I do not understand the pedestal he is placed on by so many. Sorry.
 
Pieter12 said:
Although I appreciate what Atget did, especially from a documentary/historical point of view, I do not understand the pedestal he is placed on by so many. Sorry.
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I can understand that point of view, but if you stick with Atget images and look and look and look, you may find his genius will eventually dawn on you. He tended to contact print his negatives and thus viewed them at a fairly small size. Some years ago, I was working at a college that had a lecture theatre with a cinema size screen and computer projector. I treated myself to a wide screen projection of many of his images, and at that size they were out of this world. As I have said before, for me he is the Van Gogh of photography. No one else even comes close.
 
How about this one:-

 
Pieter12 said:
Although I appreciate what Atget did, especially from a documentary/historical point of view, I do not understand the pedestal he is placed on by so many. Sorry.
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There is a profound sensibility at work. I find Atget's pictures to be intensely beautiful.
 
I can confirm. I was there a couple of hours ago It's a two minute walk from Jardin du Luxembourg, in case anyone wants to visit.
 

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How about this: -
 

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Or this: -

 
That's one of the greatest pictures in the history of photography, Cliveh, along with several very similar ones - greater than the sum of their parts. He got better with old age - remarkably poignant. Even though distant, the statues are as if alive, something he had an uncanny ability to do over and over again. But the sculpting of form itself, deep blacks juxtaposed again the brilliance of overpowering highlights, is about as poetically impressive as it gets in any visual medium. The compositional balance - incredible. Overall, a timeless image.
 
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