The Work of Atget: Modern Times

EUGENE ATGET-HIS ART BRIDGED TWO CENTURIES

By Andy Grundberg

Over the last four years the Museum of Modern Art's department of photography has organized a series of four major exhibitions involving a total of close to 500 photographs, supervised the publication of four exquisitely reproduced books and devoted uncounted hours to research and writing, all with one aim: to establish Eug ene Atget (1857-1927) as a great photographer. With the third and fourth exhibitions opening simultaneously at the museum this week and the fourth book coming off the presses, it now seems safe to say that the Modern has accomplished its mission. There is no longer any doubt, if indeed there ever was, that Atget is one of the great practitioners of the medium. But one question remains, even after the museum's gargantuan efforts: what exactly is it that makes Atget great?

New York Times • Arts • page 35 • 1,657 words