AtgetPostcards of a Lost Paris
Benjamin Weiss
Eugène Atget’s photographs of Paris around the turn of the 20th century have become part of that city’s enduring image, but only found fame after his death in 1927. For much of his life, he recorded its ‘little trades’ in a series of postcards, 80 of which are reproduced here. They offer a glimpse of the working city – its butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers, flower-sellers, knife-grinders and rag-and-bone men – in all its reality.