Masters of Photography - Eugéne Atget

Photography by Eugéne Atget Atgets portrait, 1927 by Berenice Abbott ------------------------------- �%A... Eugène Atget (1857 1927) was a French photographer noted for his photographs documenting the architecture and street scenes of Paris. Born outside the French city of Bordeaux, he was orphaned at seven and raised by his uncle. In the 1870s, Atget briefly became a sailor and cabin boy on liners in the Transatlantic. After shipping on several voyages, Atget became an actor, more specifically, a bit player, for a second-rate repertory company, but without much success. Atget finally settled in Paris in the 1890s, he saw photography as a source of income, selling his photographs to artists in the nearby town of Montparnasse. He advertised his photographs as “documents for artists.“ It was common practice at the time for painters to paint scenes from photographs. By 1899, he had moved to Montparnasse, where he lived and earned a mo