Versailles, Coin de Parc 1903

Eugène Atget made this photograph, *Versailles, Coin de Parc,* using a gelatin silver printing process, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. The image gives the impression of a quick, almost casual snapshot but, in reality, the long exposure time needed to capture the image would have required a slow, deliberate process. Look at the way the light reflects off the statue's back, the image has an amazing depth despite being almost monochrome. The statue is quite tactile, but it is the water and foliage which appear soft and almost painterly. Atget has an interesting connection to painting - he sold many of his photographs to artists as source material. It’s interesting to imagine that what we see here may have been a means to an end, a study which would later contribute to someone else's grand statement. But maybe this photograph is the grand statement. It is the product of a process, in conversation with painting, but very much its own thing.