Versailles, Chaste Venus
Eugène Atget (French, 1857-1927)
Date:
1922-1923
Medium:
albumen print, gold toned
Collection:
Photography [1]
Dimensions:
Image - h:18.10 w:22.60 cm (h:7 1/8 w:8 7/8 inches)
Matted - h:35.56 w:45.72 cm (h:14 w:18 inches)
Credit Line:
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number:
1985.113
Gallery ID:
not on view
During the first quarter of the 20th century, Eugène Atget photographed the French urban experience. Periodically, from 1901-1926, Atget was particularly attracted to the grounds and gardens at the palace of Versailles, photographing its walks, fountains, and statues during different seasons. An eerie silence and mysteriousness frequently suffuses his images, as it does in this haunting photograph of Antoine Coysevox's bronze sculpture of Venus, positioned on a raised plinth facing the palace's garden facade.
With the placement of his camera, Atget brought a carefully ordered harmony to the composition
through the alignment of various architectural and sculptural elements.
Inscription:
Written in pencil on verso: "Versailles 1203"; scratched into negative: "1503 [sic]"