Rue de la Reynie Tin Smith's shop. Eugène Atget, photographer (French, 1857 - 1927) 1912 This bleak view documents the commercial use by the urban working class of cramped public or quasi-public spaces. In this photograph, the implements from a tinsmith's shop have spilled out onto the sidewalk. Judging by the tools on the windowsill and the scraps on the pavement, the smith worked in the street itself, traffic permitting. Teapots, various pots and pans, and a large, round basin hang next to the darkened shop door and grimy window. A barrow for picking up damaged goods and delivering mended ut

Rue de la Reynie Tin Smith's shop. Eugène Atget, photographer (French, 1857 - 1927) 1912 This bleak view documents the commercial use by the urban working class of cramped public or quasi-public spaces. In this photograph, the implements from a tinsmith's shop have spilled out onto the sidewalk. Judging by the tools on the windowsill and the scraps on the pavement, the smith worked in the street itself, traffic permitting. Teapots, various pots and pans, and a large, round basin hang next to the darkened shop door and grimy window. A barrow for picking up damaged goods and delivering mended utensils rests in front. This picture and two others by Eugène Atget (see and ) are not only documents of specific urban spaces but also poignant studies of the differing textures of battered and abraded stone, dented and scarred metal, and light reflecting from dull surfaces.> > Adapted from Eugène Atget, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum by Gordon Baldwin (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2000), 50. ©2000, J. Paul Getty Trust. (Recto, print) lower right, in black ink on negative: "380" [printed in reverse] (Verso, mount) upper center, in pencil: "Boutique - Etameur" [in Berenice Abbott's hand?] upper right, in pencil: "380"

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