Eugene Atget Photographer - ACE118.2

Caption: "Paris, June 1927." Eugène Atget leaves his apartment, carrying camera, tripod, etc. Caption: "Paris, 2 months later." Atget on his deathbed. Narrator’s VO explains that he had searched a long time for Atget, only to find him dying, "alone and almost unknown", but only later came to fully understand the value of his images. Allée de l’eté, parc de Versailles (1901). Detail from Au Petit Bacchus – rue St. Louis-en-l'Ile 61 (1901). Others including Coiffeur, avenue de l’Observatoire (1926); detail from Joueur d'orgue (c.1898-1899). Detail from Pool, St Cloud (1915-1918). View down into ornamental garden of the Carnavalet Museum; Museum interior with Narrator explaining that it had collected photographs of Paris since the 1850s, and could preserve his work for the future. Atget meets Narrator/Curator (dialogue subtitled in English) who agrees to take his pictures; sorting and filing them by location. Photographs of 15 quai Bourbon; Au Petit Bacchus - rue St. Louis-en-l'Ile 61; 5 rue Bonaparte; rue des Ursins; Allée de l’eté, parc de Versailles; Pont Neuf. Berenice Abbott looking at photographs; her VO explains that the first time she saw work by Atget was in Man Ray’s studio, in 1925, and suggests that it was his pictures that gave photography the status of "an art in its own right". A la Biche, 35 rue Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire (1905); Vieux Moulin / The Old Mill, Charenton (1915); Au Tambour, 63 quai de la Tournelle (1908). Abbott visits Atget. Atget posed as a "hero of the Revolution". André Calmettes on Atget as a would-be actor, the time when he met his wife, Valentine Delafosse Compagnon. Abbott’s VO talking about the photographs as stage settings: a courtyard, a marble staircase, pillars, a shop front, etc. Abbott’s VO says the physical world became a stage, "a great drama".