The Reaper, Somme
Artist
Eugène Atget
(French, 1857-1927)
CultureFrench
Datebefore 1900
MediumAlbumen print
Dimensions6 5/8 × 8 1/2 in. (16.8 × 21.6 cm)
Overall, Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Frame (estimated): 21 1/4 × 17 1/4 × 1 1/4 in. (54 × 43.8 × 3.2 cm)
Overall, Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Frame (estimated): 21 1/4 × 17 1/4 × 1 1/4 in. (54 × 43.8 × 3.2 cm)
InscribedVerso, written in Atget's hand in pencil: Faucheur (Somme) 858;
Written (in ink?): Photo E. Atget;
Collection Berenice Abbott;
Lower left: MOMA DUPE;
2002 SMM
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. by exchange
Object number2002.5.5
Not on view
DescriptionThis is an albumen print of two men reaping wheat in a field with a scythe.Label TextEugène Atget French, 1857–1927 top Faucheurs, Somme (Reapers, Somme), before 1900 Albumen print (photograph) Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. by exchange 2002.5.5 bottom Faucheurs, Somme (Reapers, Somme), before 1900 Gelatin silver print (photograph), printed by Berenice Abbott (American, 1898–1991) after 1956 Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2207.24 When Eugène Atget made this photograph of rural farmers, he was documenting a lifestyle that was fading from view. During a period of rapid modernization in Paris, Atget ignored the city’s new boulevards and grand architecture. Instead he focused on the details of Paris’s aging neighborhoods and everyday life in the nearby countryside. Atget’s work was largely overlooked until the end of his life, when a group of Surrealists published his images, celebrating their unconventional style. The young American artist Berenice Abbott befriended the senior photographer, and upon his death she brought thousands of his glass plate negatives to the United States. In the 1950s, Abbott began reprinting Atget’s work, but used modern photographic materials with noticeably different results. Unlike Atget’s warm-toned originals, Abbott’s late prints show the crisp contrast then in style. ProvenanceEugene Atget; Berenice Abbott and Julian Levy, 1927-1968; sold to Museum of Modern Art, 1968-2002; Chrysler Museum of Art purchase, Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. by Exchange, 2002. Exhibition History"The World of Photography," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 20, 2007 - May 25, 2008. "Photographs Take Time: Pictures from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, April 6 - August 26, 2018.Published ReferencesJohn Szarkowski and Maria Morris Hambourg, _The Work Of Atget, Volume I: Old France_ (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1981), 159, fig. 8. ISBN: 0-87070-204-1 Chrysler Museum, "Chrysler Museum of Art Acquires Rare Atget Photographs," http://news.amn.org/amn_home.jsp, Art Museum Network News, October 18, 2002: http://news.amn.org/press.jsp?id=1105. Clark Worswick, _Berenice Abbott & Eugéne Atget_ (Santa Fe: Arena Editions, 2002), pl. 96. ISBN: 1-892041-63-4 A print of this photograph
