Experience Paris at George Eastman House

Photographs of Paris from early and late 20th century, as captured by Eugene Atget and Christopher Rauschenberg, on view beginning Feb.18

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — George Eastman House presents an exhibition that explores Paris through the lenses of two photographers working a century apart. Paris: Photographs by Eugene Atget and Christopher Rauschenberg features 60 photographs and is on view Feb. 18 through April 9.

Eugene Atget (French, 1857-1927) photographed Paris in the first three decades of the 20th century, while Christopher Rauschenberg (American, b. 1952) captured images of Paris at the end of the century. Atget’s visual record of Paris has become an inspiration to photographers for decades. The intuitive visual quality of his work continues to attract attention and establishes him as one of the century’s greatest photographers.

In the late 1990s, Rauschenberg photographed 500 scenes that Atget admired and photographed, including street scenes, architectural details, and landscapes. While Rauschenberg’s project does not attempt to replicate the exact angles and perspectives of Atget’s earlier images, he instead evokes their aesthetic and emotional tone. Rauschenberg’s work is both homage to his predecessor and an artistic study of Paris in its own right.

"Like many people, I consider Atget to have been the greatest photographer of all time," Rauschenberg said. "There, among the things and places that Atget had admired, I resolved to return and do a rephotographic exploration to discover if the haunting and beautiful Paris of Atget’s vision still existed. As I was rephotographing Atget images, I kept seeing places that he hadn’t photographed but that seemed to me to be also rich with the feeling of his work. I photographed hundreds of those places where I felt Atget’s spirit. I don’t claim to have been channeling Atget, or that Atget would have photographed those places were he to see them. I was walking around Paris in Atget’s shoes; and this is where they took me."

About Atget
Although Atget tirelessly and sensitively photographed the city of Paris and its environs, he never called himself a photographer; instead, he preferred the term "author-producer." Atget first began to photograph vieux Paris (old Paris) in 1898. He carried a large-format view camera, an outdated, cumbersome outfit, through the streets and gardens of Paris, usually photographing around dawn. Many of the locations he captured were demolished soon afterward to make way for rapid urbanization. A private, almost reclusive man, Atget was not well known during his lifetime. Yet his visual record of Paris has become an inspiration for photographers worldwide. The images featured in this exhibition are drawn from George Eastman House’s impressive holdings of more than 500 Atget photographs.

About Rauschenberg
Rauschenberg’s well-trained eye discovers and captures extraordinary qualities in ordinary moments and places. He has photographed in 24 countries and has had 74 solo shows in six countries and work featured in group shows in four countries. Oregon-based Rauschenberg is a founding member of the Blue Sky Photographers’ Collective and Gallery and a long-time participant in the acclaimed Portland Grid Project. Christopher Rauschenberg, the son of artist Robert Rauschenberg, is recognized nationally and internationally as both an artist and curator.

"Having photographed all of these scenes, it is clear to me that the Paris of Atget’s vision is still there and available to eyes that look for it," Rauschenberg said. "In central Paris, most of the scenes that Atget photographed are still there, and still posing. You can see the effects of acid rain on them; you can see the effects of graffiti; most of all, you can see that the magical streets of Paris are now thickly covered with parked cars. However, among all the other Parises that co-exist so thickly in one amazing city, Atget’s Paris is still definitely and hauntingly there."

While Rauschenberg’s Paris images previously have been displayed, this is the first time his images will be hung alongside those of Atget. Rauschenberg has generously donated his photographs from the Paris exhibition to the permanent collection at George Eastman House.

Rauschenberg Lecture
Christopher Rauschenberg will present an illustrated lecture on his Paris series at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in the Dryden Theatre. Included with museum admission. For more information please call (585) 271-3361 ext. 218.

Paris: Photographs by Eugene Atget and Christopher Rauschenberg is a "New Histories" exhibition, organized jointly by George Eastman House and the International Center of Photography in New York City, where it will be on view June 9 through Aug. 27. The exhibition is being curated by Alison Nordstrom, Eastman House’s curator of photographs, and is supported by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

For more information about the exhibition, please call (585) 271-3361. Admission to George Eastman House is $8 for adults; $6 for senior citizens (60 and older); $5 for students; $3 for children (5 to 12); and free for children 4 and under and museum members.

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