2004-289: Vénus par Legros, Versailles

Vénus par Legros, Versailles, 1923–24

Gelatin silver chloride print
22.8 × 17.8 cm (9 × 7 in.)
Museum purchase, gift of the Friends of the Princeton University Art Museum in honor of Peter C. Bunnell
2004-289
Szarkowski/Hambourg 21
In just over three decades, the French photographer Eugène Atget made ten thousand photographic negatives that documented the cultural legacy of France and its rapidly changing capital, Paris. Atget considered himself a documentary photographer and marketed his services to artists, architects, libraries, and museums. His diverse portfolio included images of parks, such as this view of the gardens at Versailles. He did not receive widespread recognition until the 1920s, when the American photographer Berenice Abbott published many of his images and championed his work.