Capturing Gentrification: The Roles of Charles Marville and Eugène Atget in Capturing the Transformation of Paris in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

Between 1853 and 1914, Paris (France), ‘the city of art’, underwent enormous changes due to the urban development plans of Baron Georges Haussmann. Although gentrification was coined in the 1960s by Ruth Glass, this Haussmannization’ of Paris shows multiple convincing similarities with contemporary forms of gentrification. Artists have been ascribed a rather ambivalent role in the gentrification process, as their presence in old, decayed, abandoned, or low-income neighborhoods was and is often seen as the first step towards gentrification. However, artists have also used their art to reflect on or even question gentrification. Especially photographers, whose discipline allows them to consciously curate and depict real life situations, have played an important role in capturing gentrification and its ramifications. Photographer Charles Marville (1813-1879) was commissioned by the state to document the neighborhoods that were demolished during the ‘Haussmannization’. Some forty years later, Eugène Atget (1857-1927) began photographing Parisian quarters that would be lost in urban planning. In this visual essay, the agency of photographers in (de)constructing gentrification is researched through an analysis of the work of Marville and Atget, discussing their objectives and styles and how these reflect the radical changes in Paris. The motivation of photographers seems to determine in what way their works represent gentrifying processes.