Eugène Atget did not train as a photographer and only turned to it in order to try to earn a living, having been unsuccessful in other fields. He started out in the provinces but soon arrived in Paris where he lived for the rest of his life. Atget worked anonymously and was considered a commercial photographer who sold what he called “documents for artists”, i.e. photographs of landscapes, close-up shots, genre scenes and other details that painters could use as models. Nonetheless, as soon as Atget turned his attention to photographing the streets of Paris, his work attracted the attention of leading institutions such as the Musée Carnavalet and the Bibliothèque Nationale, which became his principal clients.

It is in these photographs of Paris, the artist who shows us a city remote from the clichés of the Belle Époque. Atget’s images of “Old Paris” depict areas that had not been touched by Haussmann’s rebuilding and modernisation programme. We see empty streets and buildings, details that usually pass unnoticed, presented as rigorous, original compositions that offer a mysterious group portrait of the city.

In addition, this section is accompanied by 43 photographs by Atget from an album that belonged to Man Ray. The photographs are of typical Parisian types and locations, taken between 1899 and 1926. They were selected by Man Ray, indicating the immediate interest that Atget’s work aroused among the Surrealists. The first to appreciate his talents and importance were the photographer Berenice Abbot and Man Ray himself, both of whom lobbied to preserve Atget’s photographs.

The equipment and technique deployed by Atget links him to 19th-century photography. He had a 18 × 24cm wooden, bellows camera, which was extremely heavy and had to be supported on a tripod. The use of glass plates allowed Atget to capture every tiny detail with great precision. Also traditional was his printing method, on albumen paper made light-sensitive with silver nitrate, exposed under natural light and subsequently gold-tinted. Atget’s vision of photography was, however, an astonishingly modern one.

As a result, he inspired artists and photographers such as Brassaï, Cartier-Bresson and Roger Livet, the Surrealists, and Walker Evans, and he can also be considered the starting-point for 20th-century documentary photography.

Eugène Atget, Paris, 1898-1924

Through August 27
FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE
Cultural Institute
Paseo de Recoletos, 23
28004 Madrid