Eugene Atget

b. 12 February 1857; d. 4 August 1927

Eugene Atget studied acting and played with a theatre group in the suburbs of Paris, but had to abandon this in 1887 because of a recurrent throat infection. The following year he began to take photographs. Though he earned his living by taking photographs, he never described himself as a photographer, preferring "author-producer." He produced a documentary of the architecture and people of Paris, many of his pictures having been taken in areas shortly to be demolished. He would photograph the same subject from different viewpoints and at different times, demonstrating that two pictures of one subject can have very different meanings and appeal. If he was not a surrealist himself, he certainly influenced this movement.