Melanie Brown reviews Eugene Atget: Select Works

Eugene Atget Impasse de la Baudorie, Rue de Venise, Paris Albumen Print 22.2 x 17.9 cms (8.72 x 7.03 ins) 1890

Whilst the James Hyman gallery offers a pleasant and contemporary clean white space upon which to exhibit their autumn photography programme, the location of Eugene Atget’s photos are a bit of a let down. Secreted off into a small white room the centre of which is an actual office, the space is a distraction to these small and charming photos.

Up close with the background out of sight however, these compact sepia vignettes offer a charming view of Parisian life that in only five photos manage to give a sense of what end of the 19th Century Paris might have felt like far from the madding crowds and clichéd cafes. Atget has captured street scenes as well as architectural details that provide a sense of the everyday caught suspended. Uncannily for such a bustling metropolis, few photos include people and in those that do such as in Impasse de la Baudorie, Rue de Venise, Paris, they fade into the background leaving me wondering about whether a collection of black and white spotted blurs emerging from a darkened doorway indicate the possibility of a dog entering screen right. The light that pours into the top of this photograph makes the roof tops glow and gives this scene of a narrow back street an ethereal feel.

Atget’s photos serve as a historic marker of the many facets of Paris, often being as interesting for the incidental surrounding the central focus of a shot. In Devanture d’un Brocateur the wares on the flea market table would appeal to a hoarder with a perchant for antiques. What I particularly enjoyed about this image was not the many items lined up for publics wandering eyes but instead the faded posters layered on the walls surrounding the shop demonstrating the beautiful typography of the era.

Eugene Atget Ancien Hotel de Jumilhac 12, rue de l'Abbe Gregoire Albumen Print 21.8 x 17.5 cms (8.57 x 6.88 ins) 1905

The two photos capturing interiors Hotel de Roquelaire, Blvd. St Germaine & Ancien Hotel de Jumilhac 12 rue de L’Abbe Gregoire give a sense of grandiosity the first for its high ceiling spacious and palacial space the second for the intricate and beautiful metalwork of a staircase which I imagine is of interest to those studying ironmongery and interior design as much as to a photography fan. Atget’s revered status in the Parisian photography scene is understandable it would have been lovely if he was given the space his photos merit away from the madding computers.

James Hyman Gallery

5 Savile Row,

London

W1S 3PD