Atget, the Pioneer

The works of the great French photographer Eugene Atget (1856-1927) are already internationally known through many books. His role as a highly influential pioneer of photography is less well appreciated. This beautiful new book explores Atget's legacy through his own photographs and those of his successors, names who are themselves legends in the history of the art: Berenice Abbott, Hila and Bernd Becher, Bill Brandt, Robert Doisneau, Walker Evans, Michael Kenna, Lee Friedlander, Clarence John Laughlin, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Rene-Jacques, Bruno Requillard, August Sander. Through a selection of insightful essays and a stunning portfolio of more than 160 photos, Atget's work is juxtaposed with those of later photographers to produce a unique and ground-breaking analysis of a critical strand of photographic history. During his lifetime Atget's work held a fascination for contemporary Surrealist artists such as Man Ray; later Walker Evans 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. Publishing for the first time numerous photographs by Atget - including the newly discovered photos of trees in the park at Saint-Cloud - this book also presents texts by experts in the history of photography.