Zoomify

Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget
French, 1857–1927

Boulevard de Strasbourg (Corsets), 1912

Gelatin silver printing out print
22.9 x 18 cm
stamped on verso.
Julien Levy Collection, gift of Jean and Julien Levy, 1975.1130

For almost three decades, the former actor Eugene Atget systematically, often serially, documented everything about Paris that seemed to be vanishing with the encroachments of modernization. Impeccably composed, with rich and varied textures and forms, his images range from unpeopled streets, parks, and monuments to cafes, street vendors, and shop windows. In Boulevard de Strasbourg (Corsets), rows of hourglass-shaped busts emerge out of darkness, while a dangling corset swings in the cracked doorway, animating the entire scene (Atget's old-fashioned camera often recorded moving objects as blurred). Atget sold these cultural documents for modest sums to artists, craftspeople, and institutions interested in preserving the past. It was not until after 1925, when he was discovered by the expatriate American artist and photographer Man Ray, that his work began to be published and recognized.

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

San Jose Museum of Art, "Bystander: A History of Street Photography," January 16–April 4, 1999.

AIC, "Paris: Photographs from a Time that Was," August 13–November 6, 2005. (David Travis)

AIC, "A Mind at Play," June 14–September 7, 2008.

AIC, "Photography on Display: Modern Treasures," May 9–September 13, 2009.

Publication History

Gunther, Thomas Michael. 1986. "Photographies. 'Les photographies d'Atget achetées par Man Ray.'" Paris: Photographies. fig. 13. (other print of this image)

Szarkowski, John and Maria Morris Hambourg. 1982. "Modern Times.” Vol. 4 of The Work of Atget. Museum of Modern Art/New York Graphic Society/Little, Brown and Company. p. 128. pl. 92. (other print of this image)

Travis, David. 2005. “Paris: Photographs from a Time that Was.” Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press. p. 51.