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Eugène Atget: Paris c. 1900 (Retrospective)


Eugène Atget (1857-1927) is one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. He became famous primarily through his views of the "old Paris", which were coveted by collectors even during his lifetime, and which served numerous painters as sample prints for their work. For a long time known only to a small circle of historians, artists and museum curators, Atget worked tirelessly at capturing with his camera the part of old Paris that was in the process of disappearing: monuments, picturesque corners of the city and hidden courtyards, as well as window displays, shop signs and door knockers, street traders, prostitutes and fairground stalls - and, last but not least, the romantic landscapes of the Parc de Saint-Cloud in the environs of Paris. It was only shortly before his death that his unique status was recognised, and from the 1930s on he became a model and inexhaustible inspiration for photographers as different as Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Robert Doisneau, Bernd and Hilla Becher. Thus he had an enduring influence on 20th century photography. Atget, who was often referred to by the naïve painter Henri Rousseau as the "Rousseau of photography" owing to his affinity with the latter's work, soon made his mark on Robert Desnos, Walter Benjamin and the surrealists.
This exhibition, compiled from work from the Bibliothèque nationale de France with the curators Sylvie Aubenas / Guillaume Le Gall on the occasion of the anniversary of Atget's 150th birthday and the 80th anniversary of his death, presents an extensive synthesis of his work and lets the old Paris glide before us in wondrous pictures. The exhibition consists of around 350 works.

An exhibition by the Bibliothèque nationale de France - Galerie de photographie, with the support of Champagne Louis Roederer

Main sponsor of the exhibition: UBS AG

Additional support by the French Embassy in Switzerland.


Publication: Eugène Atget - Retrospektive. Published at Nicolai Verlag, Bibliothèque nationale de France and Berliner Festspiele. With texts by Sylvie Aubenas, Guillaume Le Gall, Laure Beaumont-Maillet, Clément Chéroux and Olivier Lugon. 288 pages, 284 Duplex illustrations, format 25 x 29,3 cm, hardcover with dust jacket. Price: CHF 59.-


Special guided tours through the Eugène Atget exhibition:
Personalities from different areas of cultural life will conduct guided tours through the Atget exhibition seen from their own personal perspectives on the following Sundays at 11.30 a.m.:

16 March: Peter Herzog, collector: Atget and his contemporaries
30 March: Hugo Loetscher, writer: Atget from a literary point of view
13 April: Stefan Zweifel, freelance author: Atget - a surrealist against his will
27 April: Martin Heller, cultural entrepreneur: Atget and the city
11 May: Ulrike Meyer Stump, lecturer Zurich University of the Arts: Atget's reception
25 May: Alain Paviot, photo gallery owner, Paris: Les différentes manifestations d'Atget dans le marché