Versailles. Balcon 5 place Hoche
Eugène Atget
French, 1857–1927
1921
An albumen silver print by Eugène Atget that calmly records the weathered doorway and facade of a Versailles building as part of his project to document and preserve the everyday architecture of Paris before it disappeared.
The image centers on a slightly open arched entrance beneath a decorative iron balcony, where worn wood, carved stone, and the painted shop sign reading “Antiquités Curiosités” are rendered in clear tonal gradations that make texture and quiet domestic scale immediately striking.
Atget’s methodical pictures treated ordinary streets and doors as historical documents, helping to define documentary photography and supplying visual material that shaped modern art and the way we view urban memory.
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
Approx. 8 9/16 × 7 1/16" (21.8 × 18 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Abbott-Levy Collection. Acquired through the generosity of Shirley C. Burden, and Family of Man Fund
Accession
1.1969.135
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
