Atget and Brassaï - Rue Asselin, at Suzzy's

Eugène Atget - Three Women on Rue Asselin, 1924 - 1925

Eugène Atget - Prostitute on Her Shift in Front of Her Doorway, Rue Asselin, La Villette, March 7, 1921

Brassaï - Introduction at Suzzy's

(Paris - A Gift for Jean)

Eugène Atget, À la Grappe d'Or

À la Grappe d'Or, 4 Place Alligre

Atget found the old heart of Paris, as it had been left by Marville and Emonds.

Eugène Atget, Au Tambour,63 quai de la Tournelle

(Click here for the Romanian Version)
Wikipedia: Inebriated historians of photography occasionally conflate their affection for Atget's Au Tambour of 1908 - arguably one of the better photographs ever made - with their affection for long-ball hitter Ted Williams' final home run at Fenway Park in 1960. In both cases, the sensation is expressed colloquially as Did you see that? Holy Cow, that's unbelievable!

Eugène Atget, the Balzac of the Camera

(Click here for the Romanian Version)

This Maison Romano might once have been a tavern or a wine shop, for that is the story told by the wrought iron grapes above the door. Besides, that's the title of the photo, Cabaret Rue Mouffetard.
It could have been also an optician's shop in some older days, as the pince-nez hanging just near the door is suggesting.

The photo was taken by 1898 - 1900. Is it still there the Maison Romano? It seems that they demolished the building by 1907. Or, who knows? It could be still there this building, by some Parisian miracle, and they could sell now newspapers, photographs and useful signs (such as chambre à louer, why not?). One thing is sure, whether still there or no more, it has seen better days and busier times this Maison Romano, Rue Mouffetard coin Rue de l'Arbalète. Busier times and heavier use, with lots of patrons.

Cabaret Rue Mouffetard, one of the most famous images made by Eugène Atget - the artist photograph considered to be the Balzac of the Camera. More than ten thousand photos, the chronicle of a whole epoch. Their Paris is no more, still these streets, and buildings, and people, live in Atget's photos, as in Balzac's pages.















Here is another image from Rue Mouffetard.
His work is a simple revelation of the simplest aspects of his environment. Atget's prints are direct and emotionally clean records of a rare and subtle perception, and represent perhaps the earliest expression of true photographic art (Ansel Adams)

Rue Mouffetard... from immemorial times, a neighborhood for the poor, the adventurers, the artists. The Place de la Contrescarpe was, like her sister, Place de l'Estrapade, just beyond the rampart of Philippe-Auguste. La Porte Bordelle was there, opening on Rue Mouffetard. But there was also the proximity with the universities... a professor of the Sorbonne could rub elbows there with penniless poets like Verlaine, or poor writers like Hemingway, or just broke students.

The image of a prostitute, the photo was made in 1920.
Simple composition in his photos - Atget was taking pictures in the early morning when the streets were relatively empty. He was not trying great effects. Only the characters and the scenery mattered.

Look at this Organ Grinder, considered also one of his masterpieces, along with the Cabaret Rue Mouffetard. There are authors who let their characters live on their own - Atget was one of those. Other authors impose the tyranny of their plot (or of their agenda) - but Atget, like Ozu in his movies, or like Chekhov in his plays, let the characters free, and only follow them attentively. Others would exploit the scenery to express their ideas, but for Atget a run-down house was just that, no more. A sense of humility - such creators forget about themselves and focus on what they see - discovering this way the fabulous hidden in the ordinary.


Such an insight for what he was seeing... where did this insight come from? Orphaned at seven, a sailor and cabin boy on transatlantic liners in his very early twenties, then a bit player for a theatrical company of second-rate repertory, before becoming a photographer... well, his eyes had learned the book of life.

106 Rue de Suffrenne, Entrance of a Brothel, the photo is made by 1900.
Atget settled in Paris, as a painter-turned-photographer in the 1890s. Fellow photographer Berenice Abbott is given much credit for the recognition that Atget's photographs received after his death in 1927. She coined for him that expression, Balzac of the Camera. When Atget died, Abbott partnered with the American Julien Levy to raise the money to acquire 1,500 of the negatives and 8,000 prints. She spent the next forty years promoting his work in America. In 1968 the Museum of Modern Art in New York purchased Abbott's collection of Atget's work.


I had read about Atget and I was looking for his photos on the web. I found firstly this one, Bar de Cabaret, Marchand de Vin, Rue Boyer, then the others followed.

And in the end I found one of the best photos ever made, Au Tambour.

Andre Kertesz, The Daisy Bar

Les rues étaient abandonnées et humides. Une bruine fine enfermait les lumières dans des halos. Quelques figures se déplaçaient près des maisons. Sur le coin de la rue Montmartre et des Grands Boulevards, un café était encore ouvert.
(Georges Simenon, Maigret et la Jeune Morte)

Le cadavre d'une jeune fille est découvert place Vintimille. Maigret s'occupe de l'affaire, provoquant le mécontentement évident de Lognon, l'inspecteur du deuxième quartier, bien connu par ses complexes d'infériorité et de persécution ; le Malgracieux devra une nouvelle fois s'atteler à des tâches secondaires. Maigret parvient à identifier la victime : il s'agit de Louise Laboine, d'origine niçoise. Dès 16 ans, la jeune fille a tenté sa chance à Paris ; dans le train qui l'emmenait vers la capitale, elle a fait la connaissance de Jeanine Armenieu, Lyonnaise décidée, elle aussi, à vivre sa vie. A Paris, tandis que Jeanine réussissait et parvenait à se faire ouvrir les portes de la haute société, Louise végétait et vivait le plus souvent aux crochets de son amie. Celle-ci a mis fin à cette situation en partant du meublé de la rue de Ponthieu où elles habitaient. Dès lors, Louise a commencé son naufrage : foncièrement honnête et de moralité irréprochable, elle a quitté l'appartement et a sombré dans la misère, lorsqu'elle a appris que son ancienne amie allait faire un mariage avantageux avec Marco Santoni, Italien fortuné. Elle a cherché à la revoir, a reçu d'elle un peu d'argent, ainsi qu'une lettre adressée à son nom, mais remise à Jeanine par la concierge de l'immeuble de la rue de Ponthieu qui ignorait le nouveau domicile de Louise. Cette lettre lui a été laissée par un Américain nommé Jimmy O'Malley. Ce dernier a été le complice du père de Louise, Julius Van Cram, escroc international que la jeune fille n'a jamais connu. Avant sa mort dans un pénitencier américain, Van Cram a demandé à O'Malley de dire à Louise comment elle pourrait entrer en possession de l'argent qu'il a accumulé dans sa vie d'escroc. O'Malley, qui n'a pu retrouver Louise, a déposé pour elle un message dans un bar louche de la rue de l'Etoile. C'est là qu'elle s'est rendue le soir du meurtre, mais le message avait été intercepté par Falconi, patron du bar, Bianchi et le Tatoué, individus peu scrupuleux qui ont profité de la situation. Pour se procurer l'« héritage » à la place de Louise, ces truands ont essayé de lui dérober ses pièces d'identité ; elle s'est défendue et a été tuée par accident.
(Tout Simenon)

The streets were deserted and wet. A fine drizzle enclosed the streetlamps in halos. A few figures were moving close to the houses. On the corner of Rue Montmartre and the Grands Boulevards, a café was still open.

The album had the English version of the text. I thought that a Maigret should be presented firstly in the original version - so I considered translating the text back to French. For wet I choose humide, rather than mouillé. Halos remained halos, and I believe this is also the word used by Simenon. For streetlamps I decided to use lumières - I am sure there is another word, more appropriate.

I found then on the web a summary of the novel - I copied it here, for the sake of all fans of Maigret.

And the photo of Kertesz, that Daisy Bar, is absolutely fabulous. I visited today again the Washington National Art Gallery - there was an exhibition of recent photographic acquisitions - among others, a Pont des Arts by Brassaï, and a couple of fantastic photographic portraits of Maiakovski, by Rodchenko. Here is a Parisian photo made by Charles Marville in the 1860's, Rue de la Bûcherie.

Marville was commissioned to record the streets, monuments, and parks of Paris both before and after the radical changes implemented by Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann (from the biography published by the Washington national Art Gallery).