[Versailles, Maison Close, Petit Place, Mars 1921 (Brothel, Versailles, Petit Place, March 1921)]

March 1921

Medium

Gelatin silver chloride printing-out paper print

Dimensions

21.8 × 16.4 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-437264

> In 1921 the painter André Dignimont (1891-1965) commissioned Eugène Atget to make a series of photographs of prostitutes for a possible publication. About a dozen pictures resulted, taken between March and May. Some, like this one, were created in the town of Versailles, where this woman lingers in the doorway of a brothel, indicated by the size of the street number over the door. Prohibited from identifying their bordellos with signs, proprietors resorted to posting larger than ordinary numerals—some more conspicuous than this example—so that customers could recognize the true nature of the establishments. > > Despite her self-protectively crossed arms, the prostitute who poses in front of this scarred facade does not seem averse to being photographed. A friendly, if not particularly alluring, smile is fixed on her heavily made-up face, and clearly she wears her working costume. Her skirt is extremely short for the time, like those of some of the other prostitutes that Atget photographed. Its abbreviated length is intended to attract customers by displaying her legs. Similarly, her high-laced boots can be assumed to have a sexual connotation, which is perhaps somewhat at odds …