Aperture Masters: Berenice Abbott (Masters of photography) - Softcover

Van Haaften, Julia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3895086126 ISBN 13: 9783895086120

Publisher: Konemann UK Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

In 1929, after eight years in Europe, photographer Berenice Abbott (1898–1991) returned to New York City for what was planned as a short visit. During her absence, hundreds of 19th-century buildings had been razed to make way for dozens of skyscrapers. The unprecedented building boom inspired Abbott to give up her thriving Parisian portrait practice to photograph the new face of New York. Soon after her return, the Stock Market crashed and the Depression began. For five years, Abbott struggled to pursue her project, reserving Wednesdays to photograph New York City. In 1935, the Federal Art Project offered her support: it gave her a $145 monthly salary, a field assistant, research assistants, a secretary, and a car. By 1940, Abbott had completed “Changing New York,” one of the monumental achievements of 20th-century photography.

About this title

About the Author

Bonnie Yochelson is a consulting curator at the Museum of the City of New York. The Museum of the City of New York is a nonprofit, private educational organization established in 1923 to collect, preserve, and present original cultural materials related to the history of New York City.

From Kirkus Reviews

In 1935 Abbott (18981991), already an experienced documentary photographer, set out with a bulky view camera to capture Manhattan's streets and building facades, to provide a thorough record of how the city looked at one point in time. Over the course of four years she covered the entire city, working neighborhood by neighborhood, and produced some 400 photographs, most of them unpublished until now. Yochelson, a consultant for the Museum of the City of New York, which holds the collection, has done a careful job of assembling and annotating the work. The 420 photographs crisply reproduced here are of extraordinary value to anyone wanting a detailed portrait of the city during the Depression. Abbott's photographs of tenements and skyscrapers, of street scenes and housefronts, of tiny backstreet shops and elegant department stores, of newstands, el stations, piers, factories, and office buildings are fascinating. Many are also powerful works of art, such as a shot of sunlight streaming through elevated tracks onto an otherwise shadowy street of shops, or her beautifuly composed depictions of neighborhood storefronts. An elegant, eminently browsable record of Manhattan's cityscapes, including many now entirely vanished. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Konemann UK Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3895086126
• ISBN 13: 9783895086120
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 95