As evidenced by the stamp on the verso, this print comes originally from the collection of photographer Berenice Abbott. Abbott, who lived and worked in Paris in the 1920s before beginning her signature series of photographs of New York City, befriended Eugène Atget in his final years, occasionally acquiring prints from him. After Atget’s death, Abbott saved his work from almost certain destruction by purchasing his archive of prints and negatives. It was through Abbott’s insistence that Atget’s work was shown in the Premiere Salon Indépendent de la Photographie in 1928, placing his photographs in the context of such contemporary photographers as Man Ray, Paul Outerbridge, André Kertész, and Abbott herself. The annotation on the verso of this print – ‘1930 Weyhe’ – almost certainly refers to the 1930 exhibition of Atget’s work at Weyhe Gallery in New York City organized by Abbott and gallerist Julien Levy. Abbott believed deeply in the value of Atget’s oeuvre and it is largely through her efforts that his work was preserved and that he has entered the canon of great photographers.
