Pontoise. Église St. Maclou

Eugène Atget

1902

A sepia albumen silver print by Eugène Atget that quietly records the carved stone portal of Saint‑Maclou in Pontoise, made to document and preserve the everyday details of French architecture.

You first register the low, slightly ajar wooden door set into a richly carved semicircular arch—ornament and weathered stone caught in soft, even light while an empty pavement and a thin iron railing emphasize scale and solitude.

Part of Atget’s methodical campaign to inventory Paris and its surroundings, this image exemplifies an archival, documentary approach to urban photography that helped shape modern documentary practice and influenced later generations of artists and photographers.

Palette

Exhibitions

French Photographs: Daguerre to Atget

1945

The Work of Atget: Old France

1981

The Work of Atget: The Art of Old Paris

1982

The Work of Atget: The Ancien Régime

1985