elegance of Versailles juxtaposed with the poverty
and hard reality of the times. He used various
mechanical and compositional techniques in his
photography to invite the viewer into the compo-
sition. His photographic style did not emulate
painting as most photography then did, but
instead his experience and facility with the camera
allowed him to capture detail and surface texture,
heightening the viewer’s sense of reality of the
subject. The depth of his images and their atmo-
spheric quality also had the effect of drawing the
viewer into his photographs. There was anintensity
to his work often achieved by juxtaposing the
focal point of the image, such as the statue in
Versailles, parc(1906), against a dark background.
His work welcomed the viewer’s gaze because he
used an eye-level viewpoint almost exclusively, and
often created asymmetrical or angled images of his
subjects, inviting one to mentally ‘‘step toward and
move around’’ his subjects.
Although much of Atget’s subject matter is
architectural, he also explored human figures as
subjects. His studies of people, sometimes casually
posed and always naturalistic, represented honest
investigations of the working class as they ap-
peared in daily life on the streets of Paris as typified
byRagpicker, Paris(1899–1900) andStreet Musi-
cians(Joueur d’orgue, 1899–1900). These images
did not generally describe the particular individual,
but instead, described their class or occupation
through dignified and sensitive renderings. Given
the technological limitations of photography at the
time, Atget probably posed his figures, asking them
to ‘‘hold still a moment.’’
Atget used a simple 1824 cm view camera with
a tripod. His methods were considered old fash-
ioned by the end of his own lifetime, requiring
him to lug over 40 pounds of equipment including
heavy glass plates, bellows camera, and the wooden
tripod. The Paris Metro was his preferred means of
transportation, and his client lists provide both
addresses and the closest metro station. Atget
never hired assistants to help him with his equip-
ment, but preferred to work alone.
One of the photographic techniques Atget used
that set his images apart from those of other photo-
graphers of his day was his use of a rapid rectilinear
lens with a short focal length, resulting in a wide
lens. This gave his pictures more depth than was
fashionable at the time, the result being very differ-
ent from contemporary styles of painting. He was a
so-called ‘‘straight’’ photographer, meaning that he
did not crop, trim, or alter the final image by
burning or dodging any of his prints in the dark-
room. He printed his glass plates by daylight and
toned them with gold chloride. Atget relied on
nature and instinct, using no artificial light for his
interior shots, no light meter, and judging exposure
by experience and charts. In 1906 he discovered the
‘‘faulty’’ technique of shooting directly into the
sun, a process that reduced detail but increased
the atmospheric quality of his images.
Despite suggestions made by the surrealist
photographer Man Ray to update the type of
paper he used, Atget insisted upon using old fash-
ioned paper that curled and had to be glued onto
cardboard, the acid eventually damaging the prints
themselves. Because of the processes he chose, par-
ticularly the paper selection, many of his works
have not survived well. Although Atget rarely
dated his works, he did etch numbers into the
emulsion, sometimes causing permanent damage
to his negatives.
One of the reasons that Atget did not achieve
much recognition during his lifetime was that he
did not associate with any sort of photographic or
artistic groups. He was a dedicated photographer
who made little time for friends, clubs, or other
social activities. He rose at dawn every day and
used the morning hours to photograph in order to
avoid traffic and crowds, and in the afternoon he
would develop. His kept strict habits in his man-
ners of dress and appetite, was a quiet figure who
wore patched clothes and a large overcoat, and
lived for 20 years on nothing but bread, milk,
and sugar.
Atget’s work has been compared with that of
both the Cubists and the Surrealists, but it was
the Surrealists who took an interest in his photo-
graphy and looked to him as a pioneer of their
movement. Man Ray’s exclamation ‘‘I discovered
him!’’ adequately describes the enthusiasm the
group held for Atget. The Surrealists were inter-
ested in publishing Atget’s work in their magazines,
but he would often only submit his work anon-
ymously, explaining ‘‘These are simply docu-
ments.’’ The Surrealists found a certain mystery
and atmospheric quality in Atget’s photographs,
particularly in images such asAvenue des Gobelins,
Paris(1925),Men’s Fashions(1925), and a myriad
of images of shop mannequins and urban ennui. In
1931, Walter Benjamin wrote in hisSmall History
of Photography, ‘‘Atget’s Paris photos are the fore-
runners of surrealistic photography.’’ The photo-
grapher’s everyday subjects, his found objects (or
what the Surrealists called theobjet trouve ́), and the
tiny details hidden in his works fascinated Surreal-
ists as such objects and images were believed to be
imbued with psychological meaning and mystical
overtones. Painter Salvador Dalı ́commented uponATGET, EUGE`NE