Paris, 1927: Berenice Abbott, a twentysomething Ohio-born art student, was working as an assistant to famed photographer Man Ray when she met an old man doing the rounds of studios to sell his photographs of old-time Paris. She admired the poetry of his solitary cityscapes and convinced him to sit for a portrait session. A few months later, she went to deliver them only to discover that Eugène Atget had died, penniless and unknown. Abbott bought all the negatives and photographs she could afford from his executor, then wrote and published a monograph praising his artistry. Atget became a legend, and she went on to a long life and brilliant career as a photographer.
