A Chronicler of Old Paris: The Life and Legacy of Eugène Atget Born Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget in 1857, in the quiet town of Libourne, France, the photographer who would become synonymous with “Old Paris” began life under a shadow of loss. Orphaned at the tender age of seven following the deaths of both his parents, young Eugène was raised by his maternal grandparents in Bordeaux. This early experience of displacement and perhaps a nascent sense of impermanence may have subtly informed his later artistic drive—a compulsion to document a world he sensed was slipping away. His initial aspiratio…