Boulevard de Strasbourg, Corsets
by Eugène Atget
Corseted torsos hang and stand in a shop window on the boulevard de Strasbourg, laced and boned and headless. Atget made the photograph in 1912 as trade documentation of a Paris shopfront, a few years before the corset went out of fashion altogether.
- 1912
- Albumen silver print from a glass negative
About Eugène Atget
What the photograph shows
A shop window on the boulevard de Strasbourg, filled with corsets on headless dress forms. Some stand on the floor of the display, some hang from above. Small cards give the prices.
There is no person in the picture. The forms are shaped like torsos and arranged in rows, so the window reads as a crowd of bodies that are not bodies.
A trade record of 1912
Atget photographed the window as part of his documentation of Paris shops and trades, the same working practice that produced hundreds of shopfronts, courtyards and street traders. He sold the prints as reference to artists, decorators and archives.
The date matters to what is in the window. Paul Poiret had begun designing for an uncorseted figure around 1906, and by the early 1920s the corset had largely gone. This is a photograph of a trade shortly before it collapsed.
Frequently asked questions
What is Atget's Boulevard de Strasbourg, Corsets?
A 1912 photograph by Eugène Atget of a corset shop window on the boulevard de Strasbourg in Paris. The window is filled with headless dress forms wearing laced corsets, arranged in rows with price cards.
Why did Atget photograph a shop window?
Shopfronts were part of his systematic record of Paris trades. He sold prints as working reference to artists, decorators, designers and municipal archives, and window displays documented both the goods and the way they were sold.
Why is the date significant?
Because the corset was about to disappear. Paul Poiret had been designing for an uncorseted figure since around 1906, and by the early 1920s corsetry had largely gone out of women's fashion. The photograph records a trade a few years before it ended.
Where is the boulevard de Strasbourg?
In the 10th arrondissement of Paris, running north from the Porte Saint-Denis toward the Gare de l'Est.
Who holds this photograph?
Prints are held by several institutions; the reproduction used here was donated to Wikimedia Commons by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Museum of Modern Art holds the Abbott-Levy collection, the body of Atget material Berenice Abbott bought from his studio in 1928.
More by Eugène Atget
References
The sources below include collection records, catalogues, scholarly research, and primary materials that informed this page. They document Boulevard de Strasbourg, Corsets, its making, and its place in cultural history.
1Eugène Atget
WebsiteWikipediaUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the Boulevard de Strasbourg, Corsets page.
2The Work of Atget
Exhibition catalogueThe Museum of Modern Art, 1981Used forThe Museum of Modern Art study of the archive and its working practice.
3Eugène Atget
WebsiteThe Museum of Modern ArtUsed forThe Museum of Modern Art's artist record.
4Eugène Atget
WebsiteEncyclopaedia BritannicaUsed forEncyclopaedia Britannica's biography, used for the outline of the career.
These references provide the documented foundation for this work's history and interpretation. Claim-level citations remain attached to the specific claims they support.
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