Faucheurs, Somme,

1890–98, printed 1956

Beginning in the 1850s, photographic nature studies taken en plein air became popular studio aides for naturalist painters who might have found it difficult to capture such authentic details on-site. Largely self-trained, by 1890 Atget had established himself in Paris as a commercial photographer of still lifes and rural landscape subjects such as this, producing what he referred to as his "photographic documents" to be used as source material for artists. By 1898, Atget began to exclusively photograph architectural views of the streets of Old Paris, producing the images for which he is most famous today.