A review by mbahnaf
Paris Changing: Revisiting Eugene Atget's Paris by Alison Nordstrom, Rosamond Bernier, Christopher Rauschenberg, Clark Worswick

4.0

"Eugène Atget photographed Paris from 1888 until his death in 1927. Like many people, I consider him the greatest photographer of all time. He documented the city in a straightforward way, his images evoking the feeling that all the transitory things that people make, all the things they do, are washed away, leaving only their transcendent evidence."

-Preface by Christopher Rauschenberg


A touching tribute to a great photographer Paris Changing contains seventy-four pairs of images beautifully reproduced in duotone. Each pair having one photograph by Atget, and the other by Rauschenberg. Each site is indicated on a map of the city, inviting readers to follow in the steps of Atget and Rauschenberg themselves.




"In Paris that year, in the streets and places that Atget had admired, I resolved to return and explore with my camera whether the haunting and beautiful city of his vision still existed. Between 1997 and 1998, I made three trips to Paris and rephotographed five hundred of the outdoor scenes that Atget had photographed. "




Essays by Clark Worswick and Alison Nordstrom give insight into Atget's life and situate Rauschenberg's work in the context of other rephotography projects. The book concludes with an epilogue by Rosamond Bernier as well as a portfolio of other images of contemporary Paris by Rauschenberg.