Berenice Abbott’s Birthday, 17 July 1898

Posted by Surplus Camera Gear on 17th Jul 2015

Berenice Abbott (July 17, 1898 – December 9, 1991)

Bernice Abbott was born in Springfield, Ohio, and raised by her single mother. She attended Ohio State University briefly, but soon left to move to New York's Greenwich Village. During this first stay in New York, she lived with writer Djuna Barnes, philosopher Kenneth Burke, and literary critic Malcolm Cowley. While there, she first supported herself as an artists’ model. Though she initially was there to study journalism, she became interested in art, specifically theater and sculpture, as a result of meeting Eugene O'Neill, Man Ray, and Sadakichi Hartmann.

Berenice Abbott began her own photographic career in 1923 as an apprentice to her friend, Man Ray, in his Paris studio. It was while with Man Ray she first became aware of the French master, Eugène Atget, an event that would have far reaching consequences in her life. Abbott established her own portrait studio in 1926, where she made compelling photographs of the celebrated writers and artists of the day, including the only Twentieth Century portrait of Atget, who died a short time after he posed for her. In 1928 Abbott acquired Atget’s prints and negatives, began a second career of forty years of hard work and established his reputation as one of foremost photographic artists of his time.

At the start of her career she made a conscious decision, dictated by artistic and commercial considerations, to pursue portraiture. She enjoyed immediate critical and financial success and within a year had her own studio and gallery showings. The output of this first phase of her career is often referred to as “Paris Portraits”; but in reality some of these photographs were taken in New York between 1929 and 1931, and it is impossible to differentiate stylistically between those made in one city or the other. All these portraits were made on medium to large glass plates. Abbott’s career as a portraitist waned when the economic pressures of the Depression forced her to give up her studio in 1931, by which time she was devoting herself to photographing New York.

Abbott’s first major photographic project, documenting New York City, began in 1929, shortly after she returned from Paris. Her documentation of this growing and changing but ultimately timeless city is one of Abbott’s finest accomplishments. There is little doubt it is the best known. Abbott’s earliest photographs were simply notes, taken with a small camera for future reference. The size of her negatives and scope of her project increased until finally, by 1932, all were made with her 8” x 10” Century Universal. Many of her well known New York images were produced under the auspices of The Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1939. However she continued to photograph New York City through 1956.

Abbott’s involvement with Changing New York and, later, science did not prevent her from undertaking other, often exciting projects. The first was in the summer of 1933 when she undertook two projects with the architectural historian, Henry-Russell Hitchcock. Then, in the spring and summer of 1935 Abbott journeyed throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania and the Deep South, producing a number of photographs reminiscent of those made under the auspices of the Farm Security Administration. In 1947-48. Throughout this time she undertook a number of projects illustrating American commercial undertakings. In 1953 she made a monumental survey of Route 1 from Fort Kent, Maine, to Key West, Florida, and back, compiling a document of changing America from along this highway. Key examples of all these projects present a fascinating cross section of Abbott’s talents.

Berenice Abbott — Self-Portrait with Large Format Camera, circa 1925
Self-Portrait with Large Format Camera

Portrait of French photographer, Eugene Atget, by Berenice Abbott
Eugène Atget by Berenice Abbott, circa 1927