Untitled (Notre Dame)
Eugène Atget
French, 1857–1927
1899
A late 19th-century albumen silver photograph of Notre-Dame by Eugène Atget, made to quietly document the cathedral and the everyday life along the Seine.
The cathedral appears as a lofty, slightly softened silhouette against a pale sky, its spire and flying buttresses looming over a bridge while small boats and anonymous figures on the riverbank give a hushed, human scale to the scene.
Atget’s methodical, documentary photographs helped establish photography as a means of recording urban history and ordinary architecture, shaping modern ideas about archival imaging and influencing later artists and photographers.
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
Approx. 6 1/2 × 8 1/2" (16.5 × 21.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Abbott-Levy Collection. Acquired through the generosity of Shirley C. Burden, and Family of Man Fund
Accession
1.1969.1873
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
