Atget, Eugene

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by Gerry Badger

Phaidon Press

Due/Published April 2001, 55 pages, paper

ISBN 0714840491

55 is a new series of beautifully produced pocket-sized books that acknowledge and celebrate all styles and aspects of photography.

Eugene Atget is today seen as the first 'modern' photographer. He was a compulsive documenter of all things Parisian. Day after day, for over 30 years, he systematically photographed Parisian street scenes, street trades (from rag-pickers to prostitutes) and the grand parks of Saint-Cloud and Versailles. He himself described his work as simple 'documents for artists' but since his death in 1927, his work has been re-evaluated and he is now seen as one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century -- the creator of a unique monument to a Paris that no longer exists and a particular era of French culture.