Looking at Atget

by Peter Barberie

Renowned for his alluring and provocative photographs of the monuments, interiors, streets, and people of Paris, Eugène Atget (1857–1927) was fascinated with the myriad materials, textures, surfaces, and details of his subjects. Although not well known in his own lifetime, his influential work now appears in almost all the world’s major museums. This book, replete with exquisite reproductions of more than one hundred of Atget’s photographs, features selections from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s highly prized collection, including at least ten previously unpublished images and two albums in which the photographer stored his own work.Peter Barberie explores the earliest and most compelling accounts of Atget’s photography and recounts the efforts undertaken by photographer Berenice Abbott and art dealer Julien Levy—each with a different perspective on Atget’s work—to bring his photographs to the United States and to promote his legacy. By analyzing how Atget assembled and organized his own albums, Barberie also offers fresh insights into how the photographer may have viewed his own work.

Genres: Photography

136 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Puja]

not sure how i acquired it... it's about a collection and Levy, the collector, N.Y. gallery owner and champion of the avant-garde. Levy and someone else worked together to collect, conserve and promote Atget's work and a large amount of the collection was given to the philadelphia museum of art. there are some good pics of monuments and paris, but this isn't your typical coffeetable book.

[Justin Cormack]

One of the better Atget books I have found (in a nice bookshop in Sydney by chance).

[Robert]

The technical essay is wonderfully informative to an amateur, but the photo selection is pedestrian.