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Description: "Avenue des Gobelins." Printing-out paper print, 9x7 inches (22.9x17.8 cm.), with Atget's title and inventory number, in pencil, his hand stamp, and a Berenice Abbott Collection handstamp on verso; accompanied by the original mount with Atget's signature, in pencil, on recto; and notations, in pencil, with a Berenice Abbott Collection hand stamp on verso. 1925

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Notes: formerly in the collection of berenice abbott.

Eugéne Atget considered himself a photographic illustrator while others, especially his contemporaries Berenice Abbott and Man Ray, considered him a documentarian and an artist. He began his career in photography selling his prints to painters for use in their work. By the late 1800s he set out to document the city of Paris and its changing architecture and street life.

In 1921 Man Ray introduced Berenice Abbott to Atget. Abbott, inspired by his work, purchased many prints and visited him regularly, forming a very close relationship to the elderly artist. After Atget's death, Abbott sought out his executor and purchased the entire collection of negatives and prints, which was subsequently purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. This classic image is reproduced in the work of atget--modern times (New York, 1985), pl. 102.