Versailles, Vase (Detail) 1906

Eugène Atget made this photograph of a vase at Versailles with a view camera sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Atget methodically documented the architecture and gardens of Versailles, a potent symbol of the French monarchy. This photograph, showing a detail of a vase adorned with grapes and grotesque masks, reflects the prevailing taste for classical and baroque motifs, favored by the elites of the Ancien Régime. After the French Revolution, Versailles became a public museum, representing a shift in the social function of art. No longer confined to the aristocracy, art and culture were now available for the education and edification of the wider public. Atget's work invites questions about the politics of imagery and how institutions shape our understanding of art. By studying archival material such as photographs, we can learn about the conditions that determined the production and consumption of art in a particular time and place.