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Boulevard de Strasbourg (Corsets)

A work made of gelatin silver printing out paper print.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver printing out paper print.

Date:

1912

Artist:

Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget
French, 1857–1927

About this artwork

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 his work was publicized by the expatriate American artists Man Ray and Berenice Abbott, that his photographs began to be recognized by a wider art world.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget

Title

Boulevard de Strasbourg (Corsets)

Place

Libourne (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1912

Medium

Gelatin silver printing out paper print

Inscriptions

stamped verso

Dimensions

22.9 × 18 cm (9 1/16 × 7 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Julien Levy Collection, Gift of Jean and Julien Levy

Reference Number

1975.1130

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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