Versailles, Vase 1905

This is Eugène Atget’s photograph of a vase in Versailles. He made it with a camera, sometime around the turn of the last century. Look at how the light catches the sculpted ram’s heads and bunches of grapes that adorn the vase. Atget uses a limited tonal range, but he coaxes a surprising amount of detail from it. The texture of the stone is palpable, and the overall effect is one of quiet dignity. The composition is simple: the vase is centered in the frame, and the background is blurred, but that doesn’t make it feel static. If you notice the way the vase sits slightly off-kilter on its plinth, there is a quirkiness to the image that makes it feel very personal. I can imagine Bernd and Hilla Becher admiring Atget’s straightforward approach to photographing the mundane objects of the everyday world. But where the Bechers were interested in documenting industrial structures with a cool, detached eye, Atget brought a warmth and humanism to his images that makes them feel much more intimate. It’s like he’s saying, "Hey, look at this thing! Isn't it beautiful?"