CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 7/7/2017

Atget: Postcards of a Lost Paris

Captioned “Flowers for sale — Two bunches for three sous,” this hand-colored, turn-of-the-century collotype postcard by Eugène Atget is reproduced from Atget: Postcards of a Lost Paris, just out from MFA Publications. Wandering street vendors often carried their wares in baskets, which is why they were sometimes called marchands au panier, or basket sellers. "The gentle tone and overall dispassion that govern the series mean that Atget’s subjects are neither specimens nor freaks," Benjamin Weiss writes. "Instead, they appear to stand for a larger civic culture and experience. The entire project seems to be an essay about life in the city."