Versailles, Coin de Parc 1901

Curator: Eugene Atget's "Versailles, Coin de Parc," a silver print made around 1901, greets us. It’s part of the Art Institute of Chicago's collection. Editor: First thought? Slightly melancholic, faded grandeur, you know? Like a memory viewed through sepia-toned glasses. The sharp cherubs contrasting with the blurry background evoke a sense of nostalgia mixed with, well, slight amusement. Curator: Amusement? Do elaborate. Editor: There is just something wonderfully pompous about Baroque sculptures of baby angels, even when presented as an untouched slice of reality. Look at their slightly puffed chests and self-important stances! Atget had a playful side. Curator: Interesting take. For me, it’s more about Atget's technical approach and how it emphasizes the formal elements: the stark geometry of the pool's edge against the soft organic forms of the statuary and trees, for instance. He's dissecting classical idealism into its components. The silver print is almost academic in the severity of composition. Editor: Yes, but consider his subjects! He was captivated by the everyday decay of Paris and its surroundings, the spaces being renovated or destroyed. His style can be formal, but in this piece he chose the details of classical-realism within the park, while almost burying some of the sculpture background within a haze. Curator: You mean, his "Old Paris" sensibility even touched the glorious Versailles? I see what you’re getting at, finding the cracks, the poetry in the aging stones, recording what's in front of him rather than inventing a fictional grandeur. A study of fleeting time and memory through those statues, yes...I wonder about the context: how did this photographic eye view such a famed site in a moment of change, and what did it all mean for Atget's vision? Editor: Exactly! So much comes across from something that is otherwise quiet on the surface. It has the quality of whispering a lot with just a few shapes and shades. Curator: Well, looking at it in that light does give it new meaning for me.