Detail View: The AMICA Library: Versailles, Vénus Pudique

AMICA ID: 
CMA_.1985.113
AMICA Library Year: 
1998
Object Type: 
Photographs
Creator Name: 
Atget, Eugène
Creator Nationality: 
European; French
Creator Role: 
artist
Creator Dates/Places: 
1857 - 1927
Biography: 
Eugène Atget French, 1857-1927Relatively unknown to the public during his lifetime, Eugène Atget is today an icon -- one of the most celebrated and influential photographers of the 20th century. Born near Bordeaux, Atget first directed his efforts to painting and the stage before turning to photography shortly before 1890. He is best known for his documentary scenes of Paris and Versailles, but he photographed a number of other sites as well. Atget viewed his work as a historical and aesthetic record, regarding it as documentation for use by artists. Indeed, several artists are known to have painted from his images.Using relatively unsophisticated, even outdated equipment, Atget achieved a view of French architecture and culture that is both personal and factual. Along with the rediscovery of the images of Mathew Brady in the early 20th century, the recognition of Atget's artistic accomplishments shortly before his death by Berenice Abbott, Man Ray, and others helped turn photographers away from the mannered style of pictorialism toward the visual and technical clarity of modernism. Marked by a selective and highly individual method, his is among the most widely shown, published, and recognized work in photography today. T.W.F.
Gender: 
M
Creator Birth Place: 
Libourne, France
Creator Death Place: 
Paris, France
Creator Name-CRT: 
Jean Eugène Auguste Atget
Title: 
Versailles, Chaste Venus
Title Type: 
Primary
Title: 
Versailles, Vénus Pudique
Title Type: 
Foreign
View: 
Full View
Creation Date: 
1922-23
Creation Start Date: 
1922
Creation End Date: 
1923
Materials and Techniques: 
albumen print, gold toned
Classification Term: 
Photography
Dimensions: 
Image: 18.1cm x 22.6cm
AMICA Contributor: 
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location: 
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number: 
1985.113
Credit Line: 
John L. Severance Fund
Inscriptions: 
Written in pencil on verso: 'Versailles 1203'; scratched into negative: '1503 [sic]'
Rights: 
Context: 
During the first quarter of the 20th century, Eugène Atget photographed the French urban experience. Periodically, from 1901-26 Atget was particularly attracted to the grounds and gardens at the palace of Versailles, photographing its walks, fountains, and statues during different seasons. An eerie stillness frequently suffuses his images, as it does in this haunting photograph of a bronze sculpture of Venus by Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720), positioned on a raised plinth facing the palace's garden facade.
Related Image Identifier Link: 
CMA_.1985.113.tif