From the collections of the Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris, the exhibition “EUGÈNE ATGET VOIR PARIS” (from 17 NOVEMBER 2020 to 21 FEBRUARY 2021) presented at the HCB Foundation is the result of a long research work carried out jointly by the two institutions. An exceptional exhibition around the work of Eugène Atget (1857-1927), an atypical figure and pioneer of photography. Critics and photographers perceive in his images of Paris the advertisement of modernity and among them, Henri Cartier-Bresson, who tries to imitate him in his first images.
Recognized for the first time in the United States and by French surrealist circles, acclaimed by generations of photographers who succeeded him, Eugène Atget still exerts an unprecedented influence in the XNUMXst century even if the gaze at his work is still sometimes contrasted. A photographer capable of capturing images of an enchanting Paris at dawn and collecting photographs for about thirty years. His images of almost deserted streets, shop windows and courtyards today testify to the urban changes that took place at the beginning of the XNUMXth century.
Image: Place du Tertre, Montmartre, XVIIIe, 1922
© Paris Musées / Carnavalet museum – History of Paris
