Henry Street, Manhattan

About Berenice Abbott

Berenice Abbott – Witnessing New York’s Metamorphosis “Photography,” said Berenice Abbott, “can never grow up if it imitates some other medium. It has to walk alone; it has to be itself.” Born in America in 1898, Abbott decided not to pursue picturesque images in her work, but to document, to show the subject exactly as it was. Only by distinguishing itself from painting, Abbott believed, would photography become its own artistic medium. This approach secured her a place among the pioneers of avant-garde photography in the twenties, with a raw, unadulterated style playing the central role in her aesthetic.The project Abbott undertook from 1935 to 1939, and for which she… Read more