Synopsis
This superbly reproduced volume presents the essence of the work of the great French photographer Eugène Atget in one hundred carefully selected photographs. John Szarkowski, an acknowledged master of the art of looking at photographs, explores in this book the unique sensibilities that made Atget one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century and a vital influence on the development of modern and contemporary photography. Szarkowski's eloquent introductory text and commentaries form an extended essay on the remarkable visual intelligence displayed in these subtle, sometimes enigmatic pictures. Atget was a commercial photographer who devoted more than thirty years of his life to the task of documenting the city of Paris, its environs, and the French countryside in more than eight thousand photographs. In the process, he created an oeuvre that brilliantly explains the great richness, complexity, and authentic character of his native culture. His uncompromising eye recorded the picturesque villages and landscape of France; the storied chateaux and the romantic parks and gardens of the ancien régime of Louis XIV ; and, in Paris, architectural details, private courtyards, quaint shop windows, curious buildings and streets, and various denizens of the urban scene of his times. Atget died almost unkown in 1927, although groups of his prints were included in various Paris archives. In 1925 the young American artist Berenice Abbott had discovered his work, and after his death she arranged to buy his archives with the help of art dealer Julien Levy ; in 1968 that collection was acquired by The Museum of Modern Art.
À propos de l?auteur
John Szarkowski (1925-2007) was one of the world's leading authorities on photography and one of the most respected writers on the subject. He served as Director of the Department of Photography at the Museum from 1962 to 1991, and it was largely through his efforts taht the Museum acquired the Abbott-Levy Collection of more than five thousand Atget prints. Szarkowski supervised the organization and cataloguing of the collection and directed a series of major exhibitions of the work of Atget. He was the author, with Maria Morris Hambourg, of the comprehensive four-volume The Work of Atget, published by The Museum of Modern Art in 1981-85. During his almost-thirty-year tenure at the Museum, Sazrkowski presented countless photography exhibitions. He wrote numerous photography books, including the Idea of Louis Sullivan, The Photographer's Eye, Looking at Photographs : Photographs from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, Winogrand : Figments from the Real World, Irving Penn, Photography Unitl Now, Stieglitz at Lake George, and Mr Bristol's Barn.
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