Through a stunning portfolio of more than 160 photographs, this outstanding publication sheds new light on the often neglected aspects of Atget's work, those innovative features of his photography that were to transform the photographic medium for a modern generation. Juxtaposing Atget's works with those of later photographers, the volume reveals how deeply Atget influenced modern perceptions in his novel depictions of street scenes, industrial landscapes, shopfronts and interiors, architectural details and parks.The work of the great French photographer Eugene Atget (1856-1927) is internationally known and widely acknowledged. His role as a pioneering innovator of photography, however, is less well appreciated. This new book puts the record straight, exploring Atget's modernist legacy through his own photographs and those of later photographers, names who are themselves legends in the history of the art: Berenice Abbott, Hilla and Bernd Becher, Bill Brandt, Robert Doisneau, Walker Evans, Michael Kenna, Lee Friedlander, Clarence John Laughlin, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Rene-Jacques, Bruno Requillard, and August Sander.
During his lifetime Atget's work held a fascination for contemporary Surrealist artists such as Man Ray; Walker Evans later drew on Atget's unflinching views of the Paris backstreets to create his own image of urban life; Cubism too found inspiration in the tightly framed spaces of Atget's Parisian streets.
