Eugène Atget

printing-out-paper print, numbered '6281' in the negative, titled and numbered '6281' in pencil and with the photographer's 'Rue Campagne-Première, 17 bis' studio stamp, annotated '17 bis' in pencil, on the reverse, framed, 1921

Collection of Berenice Abbott / Julien Levy, 1968

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2002

Grading this printing-out-paper print on a scale of 1 to 10--a 10 being an albumen print with deep brown dark tones and highlights that retain all of their original detail--this print rates a strong 10. It has saturated eggplant tones, bright highlights, and a smooth, high-gloss surface. The print exhibits an extremely high degree of detail in the statue and the velvet carpet of the staircase. This photograph is in generally excellent condition. As is common with Atget's photographs, the print is trimmed unevenly and a portion of the negative is visible at the upper and lower edges. There is minor edge-chipping and there is a small 3/8-inch tear along the lower edge. Upon close examination, several handling creases that do not appear to break the emulsion are visible overall, mostly around the statue and at the lower left corner. In high raking light, a few scattered matte deposits are visible in the area of the staircase as well as some scattered soiling. The reverse is slightly age-appropriately darkened. It has tape remnants and abrasions near the corners from a previous mount. 'Dupl. P. INT - STAIRCASES' and 'MOMA DUPE [illegible] 2002' are written in an unidentified hand in pencil. In 'The Work of Atget. Volume III: The Ancien Regime,' Maria Morris Hambourg has chronologically dated, in the form of an extensive chart, Atget's photographs by their series and negative numbers. The chart is the most comprehensive to date, and our dating of this print is based upon the author's assessment of the photographer's series and negative numbers. The negative number on this print '6281' indicates that this image was taken in 1921 (cf. 'The Work of Atget. Volume III: The Ancien Regime,' pp. 181-85).
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