Skip to main content

Maison Close

Eugène Atget; Berenice Abbott

Artwork Details

Maison Close
1921
Eugène Atget; Berenice Abbott
gold-toned gelatin silver print on paper
10 in x 13 in (25.4 cm x 33.02 cm)
Museum Purchase
1974/1.114

Description

Subject Matter:

This seemingly casual photograph of a woman in a white dress standing in a doorway and a soldier leaning against the wall alongside her likely depicts a brothel worker and her client. The straightforwardness of the representation – both the soldier and the prostitute pose for the photographer – reflects the ordinariness of this form of exchange in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. Atget closely framed these two people in his photograph (without the descriptive title we would not know the scene takes place in Versailles), suggesting his project of documentation included people as well as places.

Physical Description:

A woman in a doorway and a soldier leaning on the exterior wall next to her.

Usage Rights:

If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.