Versailles, Vase, (Detail)
1906/07
Medium
Albumen print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 22 × 17.7 cm (8 11/16 × 7 in.)
Classification
albumen silver print
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
124344
Art Historical Context
Jean-Eugène-Augusteget created this intimate detail of a decorative vase at the Palace of Versailles in 1906–07 as part of his extensive documentation of historic French architecture and gardens. Working primarily in and around Paris during the early twentieth century, Atget sought to record a vanishing world of old streets, parks, and royal estates before modernization altered them forever. His straightforward approach transformed what might have been simple records into quietly poetic images that later influenced generations of photographers. The albumen silver print technique used here was...
About the Artist
Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget · 1857–1927
Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget was born on February 12, 1857, in Libourne, France, to working-class parents—a carriage maker father who died in 1862 and a mother who passed away soon after, orphaning him at age six or seven. Raised by his maternal grandparents in Bordeaux, Atget briefly pursued a seafaring life before moving to Paris in the late 1870s to study acting at the Conservatoire d'art dramatiq...