The dialectics of documents: the case of the real and the fantastic

In this article, I will provide an account of two photographers’ work. Each of them represents two very particular temporal fragments: the first is Charles Marville (1813-1879), and the second is Eugéne Atget (1857- 1927). Although their work does not overlap in terms of time, both worked in the central areas of the French
capital otherwise referred to as Old Paris. Furthermore, both of them documented change, each in their own way; Marville captured the great restructuring of Paris by Baron Haussmann, while Atget documented the fleeting façades of old hotels, houses, or public spaces, all of which were soon to collapse in on themselves.