Villa d'un Chiffonnier

1912

Medium

Albumen silver print

Dimensions

22.9 × 17.1 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-415865

> Although Eugène Atget's subject matter, insofar as it concerns daily life in Paris, centers around the middle class, he did not ignore the poor, whether their appearance on the streets or the places where they lived and worked. Among the most poverty-stricken Parisians were the chiffonniers (ragpickers; see [90.XM.127.4](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/64726/eugene-atget-chiffonier-french-1899-1901/) and [90.XM.46.4](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/63398/eugene-atget-and-berenice-abbott-ragpickers'-camp-french-negative-1913-print-about-1950/)), who combed the city for trash that might be collected and resold. (Recycled rags, for example, could be made into paper.) In Atget's time there were more than five thousand people involved in this form of trade, which was broken down into hierarchies according to the type of refuse that was amassed. Many of these fiercely independent individuals inhabited decrepit and decaying buildings, but others lived in gypsy wagons and ramshackle huts that they had assembled from their street findings. These flimsy shelters were to be found in outlying areas of Paris, set up on the ground where the metropolis's outmoded, mid…