Accession Number
1974/1.106

Title
Nenuphars

Artist(s)
Eugène Atget

Artist Nationality
French (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1890 - 1900

Medium & Support
gold-toned gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
10 in x 13 in (25.4 cm x 33.02 cm);19 5/16 in x 14 5/16 in (49.05 cm x 36.35 cm);13 in x 10 in (33.02 cm x 25.4 cm);8 7/8 in x 6 3/4 in (22.54 cm x 17.15 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Subject matter
While Atget's subject matter is relatively straight-forward – a pond replete with water lilies and reeds – the visual effects that Atget coaxed from his material are formally quite complex. Employing a steep perspective that eliminates the appearance of a horizon line, the pond, reeds, and water lilies fill the full frame of the photograph, similar in many ways to the paintings of water lilies that Claude Monet was producing at the same time. Atget concentrates the visual drama of the scene towards the center of the image; the eye is led from the lower margin of the print upward through a series of visually arresting forms: the striped reflections of reeds, circular forms of the water lilies, and the vertical strands of the reeds themselves in the upper third of the image. The black-and-white palette draws attention to the diverse patterns and textures of the plant life in and around this pond.

Physical Description
View of a pond with water lilies and reeds.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Nymphaea (genus)
marsh vegetation
modern and contemporary art
parks (grounds)
plant communities (natural)
pond
ponds (water)
reflections
reflections (perceived properties)