Eugène Atget/Biography
From George Eastman House : Notes On Photographs
| Eugène Atget | ||
|---|---|---|
| Key Attributes : Technique · Significant Marks · Conservation · Subject Series | ||
| General Information : Biography · Provenance and Significant Collections · References and Bibliography | ||
Jean Auguste Eugène Atget (Born France 1857 – Died France 1927)
1857 - Born in Libourne, France, on February 12.
Worked as a cabin boy and sailor until 1879. Entered the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris, working as a minor actor for the following years. Married actress Valentine Delafosse with whom he lived until her death in 1926.
1897 - Started to work as a photographer at the age of 40.
Atget made over 10,000 photographic images of Paris. Most of these were sold by the photographer to libraries and museums, as well as to artists, stage designers, and interior decorators. The names of Atget's clients are listed in a notebook titled Repertoire that is part of the Abbott-Levy Collection at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
1925 - Berenice Abbott sees a photograph by Atget for the first time at Man Ray's studio in Paris, where she works as assistant. Abbott seeks Atget in his studio at 17 bis rue de Campagne Première (the same street where Man Ray had his studio at that time). She buys several prints over the next years, observes Atget at work, and takes his portrait. After Atget's death, Abbott buys the negatives, several albums, prints and notebooks, presently part of the MoMA collection. See Frontispiece of The World of Atget by Berenice Abbott
1926 - Man Ray published Atget's photographs in the magazine "La Révolution Surréaliste." They are not credited at Atget's request.
1927 - Atget died in Paris, on August 4. He is buried in the cemetery of Bagneaux, in Paris.