Thursday, November 14, 2019

Eugène Atget at Versailles - Early Twentieth Century

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Coin du Parc
1902
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Vase par Cornu
1902
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Vase par Cornu
1903
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Vase (detail)
ca. 1906-1907
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Le Rhone
1901
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Fontaine du Point du Jour
(Limier abattant un Cerf)
1903
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Fontaine du Point du Jour
(Tigre terrassant un Ours)
1903
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Fontaine de Diane
ca. 1901
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

During the Service

How strange my lack of faith must seem to you.
I see the way your god provides a cradle for your grief;
how lovely to be certain that the ancient story's true.

You sang the hymns as if each word were new –
At last, you sang, at last in Your / Eternal arms I'll find relief
(how strange my lack of faith must seem to you) –

while I kept drifting, lost in the refrains and in the blue
fragility the tinted glass provided us to bow beneath
(how lovely to be certain that the ancient story's true).

Beneath the moderated sky we rose and sang and cried on cue;
familiar words were read to keep our sorrow brief
(how sad my lack of faith must seem to you);

the book upon the altar and the hymnals in each pew
held pages edged in fine gold leaf –
how lovely seeing that the ancient story's true –

and I was wondering just what it cost to see this vaulting through:
the ceilings, windows, ornaments; the engineering of belief . . .

But let my lack of faith seem strange to you!
You're lovely certain that the ancient story's true.

– Carrie Grabo (2001)

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
1904
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
1904
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
1903
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Bassin du Midi
1901
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Abduction of Proserpine by Pluto
1904
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago

Eugène Atget
Versailles - Abduction of Proserpine by Pluto (Base)
1904
albumen print
Art Institute of Chicago