id: 152231 accession number: 1985.117 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.117 updated: 2023-03-14 12:01:25.290000 Versailles, Fountain of Enceladus, 1922–1923. Eugène Atget (French, 1857–1927). Albumen print, gold toned; image: 22.5 x 17.8 cm (8 7/8 x 7 in.); matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1985.117 title: Versailles, Fountain of Enceladus title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1922–1923 creation date earliest: 1922 creation date latest: 1923 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: France, 20th century technique: albumen print, gold toned department: Photography collection: Photography type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Eugène Atget (French, 1857–1927) - artist Eugène Atget French, 1857-1927 Relatively unknown to the public during his lifetime, Eugène Atget is today an icon -- one of the most celebrated and influential photographers of the 20th century. Born near Bordeaux, Atget first directed his efforts to painting and the stage before turning to photography shortly before 1890. He is best known for his documentary scenes of Paris and Versailles, but he photographed a number of other sites as well. Atget viewed his work as a historical and aesthetic record, regarding it as documentation for use by artists. Indeed, several artists are known to have painted from his images. Using relatively unsophisticated, even outdated equipment, Atget achieved a view of French architecture and culture that is both personal and factual. Along with the rediscovery of the images of Mathew Brady in the early 20th century, the recognition of Atget's artistic accomplishments shortly before his death by Berenice Abbott, Man Ray, and others helped turn photographers away from the mannered style of pictorialism toward the visual and technical clarity of modernism. Marked by a selective and highly individual method, his is among the most widely shown, published, and recognized work in photography today. T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 22.5 x 17.8 cm (8 7/8 x 7 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on verso: "VERSAILLES BASSIN DE/L'ENCELADUS 1166" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2005-02-26T00:00:00 Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 26-June 16, 2005). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * CMA, February 12 - April 20, 1986: "Year in Review 1985," CMA Bulletin, 73 (Feb. 1986), p. 64, no. 60.
Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; February 26 - June 16, 2005 . "Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art". --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Taken in his later campaign of photographing at Versailles during the 1920s, Atget magically--through his ingenuous composition and use of light and shade--captured the pathos and expressive vigor of Gaspard Marsy’s 1675-77 sculpture from a sketch provided by the painter Charles Le Brun. This baroque, gilded metalwork depicts Enceladus, the mightiest of the giants in Roman mythology. Jupiter cast down and crushed the giant under a mound of rock after he dared to attack Mount Olympus to dethrone the gods. Enceladus, vanquished by his temerity and pride, clings to the stones with all the strength of his half-buried body. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 88 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.117/1985.117_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.117/1985.117_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.117/1985.117_full.tif