born Feb. 12, 1857, Libourne, near Bordeaux, France
died Aug. 4, 1927, Paris
French photographer.
He began his adult life as an itinerant actor. Around age 30 he settled in Paris and became a photographer. The rest of Atget's life was spent recording everything he could that he considered picturesque or artistic in and around Paris. With an eye for strange and unsettling images, he made several series of photographs of iron grillwork, fountains, statues, and trees. He also photographed shop fronts, store windows, and poor tradespeople. His main clients were museums and historical societies that bought his photographs of historic buildings and monuments. After World War I he received a commission to document the brothels of Paris. Man Ray published four of Atget's photographs in La révolution surréaliste (1926), the only recognition he received in his lifetime. After his death, Ray, Berenice Abbott , and the art dealer Julien Lévy bought his remaining collection, which is now in the Museum of Modern Art.