Review: 'Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris'

The photographs of Charles Marville are far handsomer than they need to be. Marville, a pioneer of early French photography, spent years working for the government of Paris, and much of what he produced was intended merely to document a city in rapid change. But his work transcends the objectivity of documentary style, capturing intricate details and loading the image with small dramas. Long before Eugene Atget photographed the disappearing nooks and crannies of old Paris in the early 20th centu...