left: Fontaine du passage des Singes, 6, rue des Guillemites, IVth, 1911
RIGHT : Old house, 6, rue de Fourcy, IVth, 1910,
© Paris Musées / Carnavalet museum – History of Paris
It's impossible not to be moved by the 150 sublime photos of old Paris signed Eugène Atget (1857-1927) and exhibited until September 19 at the Henri Cartier-Bresson foundation, rue des Archives. One thing is certain: you must not miss at any price this moving exhibition soberly entitled “See Paris”, which offers a fascinating insight into the poetic atmosphere of the capital a hundred years ago.
A corner of the Bercy warehouse, rue Léopold, 1913th century, XNUMX © Paris Musées / Carnavalet museum – History of Paris
Cabaret of the Armed Man, 25, rue des Blancs-Manteaux, 1900th arrondissement, September XNUMX
© Paris Musées / Carnavalet museum – History of Paris
A major photographer, Atget, whom Raymond Depardon calls “our grandfather to all”, turned to photography at the age of 30 after a career as a sailor and actor. He then began his great work: from 1897 to his death in 1927, he immortalized the urban space which he systematically explored for thirty years.
The result is a phenomenal documentary collection on Paris, its neighborhoods, its streets, its mansions, its small businesses: 30.000 images in all, a good part of which belongs to the Carnavelet museum (others belong to private collections American).
A corner of the Marie Bridge, 1921th century, XNUMX
© Paris Musées / Carnavalet museum – History of Paris
Le Marais figures at the heart of Eugène Atget's work. The Henri Cartier Bresson Foundation has therefore chosen to show, for our greatest pleasure, images of the streets of Fourcy, Charlemagne, Jarente, Franc-Bourgeois, Guillemites, Ursins, Avé-Maria, Turenne, des Blancs Manteaux, without forgetting the Hôtel de Sens and the Place du Marché Sainte-Catherine. All reveal an aspect of the neighborhood and the “mood” of the Marais – or rather: le Marais Mood – at the time.
“Eugène Atget, See Paris » (until September 19) at the Henri Cartier-Bresson foundation is the counterpart to the exhibition “Revoir Paris”, dedicated to Henri Cartier-Bresson, at the Carnavalet museum (until October 31).
E
See Paris
Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation
Until September 19, 2021
79, rue des Archives, 75003 Paris
Tuesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 19 p.m.
Tel: +01 40 61 50 50 XNUMX
Text: Axel G.
07.07.21
