a bit about Eugene Atget

Info from:

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/atget/atget_articles2.html

Eugene Atget (1857 - 1927)

• Atget was born in Libourne, in 1857 but then orphaned at an early age.
• in the 1880's Atget undertook acting, performing and entertaining on the stage at provincial theatres. He moved to paris in 1890 to pursue his career of the stage but soon realised this was basically impossible.
• Atget then moved into visual arts, and mainly photography.
• He chose photography because of his limited art training
• he had really not interest in the already happening photography art movement that was occuring at the time he changed to visual arts. instead he wanted to capture the light and shadows and display that to the world rather than try to conform to the movement.
• Atget photographed many different scenes. most likely over 10,000 photographs were taken by him. These were mainly store fronts, private gardens, public spaces, arcades, everyday people on their way to work and things like that, but he never wanted to photograph upper class events or places.
• This created a part legend, part dream, yet profoundly real side to Paris
• When Atget died, Man Ray's technical assisstant, Berenice Abbott raised enough money so she could buy Atget's negatives and prints and took them back to America on he travells home in 1929. Atget's work grabbed the attention of many American photographers and collectors, resulting in 1968, the museum of modern art bought the large and still mainly uncataloged collection of Atget's work and put them on display.