Photographs byEugene Atget sold by The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will be presented by the auction house Hindman in Chicago on December 6, 2022.
Hindman presents a rare collection of photographs by Eugène Atget, a photography pioneer whose documentary vision of Paris has been highly influential to artists around the world, inspiring everyone from Man Ray to Ansel Adams. Originally owned by American photographer Berenice Abbott, an early advocate of Atget, these photographs later became part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York before ending up in the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. . This 42-lot auction on December 6 is a striking demonstration of Atget’s ability to capture the rapid evolution of Parisian architecture and culture in the early 20th century.
“The Museum is pleased to partner with Hindman on this illustrious sale of Atget’s photographs, proceeds of which will support our future photographic acquisitions,” said Malcolm Daniel, Curator of Gus and Lyndall Wortham Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. . “With a rich collection of over 150 other works by Atget at MFAH, we believe the photographs offered here will be seen and appreciated more widely elsewhere, becoming valuable highlights of other personal or public collections. »
Atget was born in Libourne, near Bordeaux in 1857 and was orphaned very early. When he discovered photography in the late 1880s, he was drawn to the street life and architecture of the capital. The documentary aspects of his photography were embraced by renowned photographers and by the mid-1920s Atget had become a favorite of the Surrealists, especially Man Ray, but also of American photographers such as Abbott. Without Abbott’s work in preserving the Atget Archive, it is unlikely that successive generations of American photographers, from Walker Evans to Lee Friedlander, would have been influenced by his work.
The collection offered in this auction features major highlights of Atget’s career at iconic Parisian landmarks including Notre-Dame, Fête de la Villette, Moulin Rouge and Versailles. Alongside these famous places, bidders will also have the opportunity to bid for works illustrating places and concerns such as a shaded stairwell on the rue des Archives, an austere alley near the rue des Gobelins, primroses in full bloom and a winter tree in St. Cloud.
Bidding for the December 6 sale will begin at 10:00 am CT (Central) 5:00 pm Paris and will be available in person at Hindman’s Auction House in Chicago, by telephone, by bid order, and online via the digital auction room by Hindman.
More information is available at www.HindmanAuctions.com.
Sale details
Sale 1122
Photographs by Eugène Atget sold by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
December 6, 2022 10:00 CT
Live / Chicago
https://hindmanauctions.com/auctions/1122-Eugene-Atget-Photographs-Sold-by-the-Museum-of-Fine-Arts-Houston
Hindman
1338 West Lake Street
Chicago, IL, 60607, USA
www.HindmanAuctions.com
