Book Review: Aperture Masters of Photography: Berenice Abbott, 1997

I found this book in the UAE college library system, one in the Aperture Masters of Photography series profiling important photographers in affordable hardback editions.  This 1997 volume is approximately 100 pages and features 41 black and white images, an essay by Julia Van Haaften in English, French, and German, as well a chronology of Abbott’s life, and lists of selected exhibitions, collections, articles, and bibliography.

I was interested in viewing Changing New York, but this is the only book in any of the country’s university libraries on Abbott. About half the images here are from the NY series, the remainder from her science work, as well as what looks like an interesting road trip down US 1, and photos centered around her home in Maine.

Changing New York appears to be out of print (and as I discovered quite heavy and expensive to ship to Dubai), but fortunately the NY Public Library has a fabulous collection of this work available online.

The Library's Changing New York archive contains more than 2,200 duplicate and variant prints representing about three-quarters of the 302 images contained in Abbott's definitive version of the project. 

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?col_id=160 

The first half dozen images are already intriguing and inspiring.  We see Abbott playing with form and composition.

Image Title:  Lamport Export Company, 507-511 Broadway, Manhattan.
Creator: Abbott, Berenice, 1898-1991 -- Photographer
Additional Name(s): Federal Art Project (New York, N.Y.) -- Sponsor
Created Date: October 07, 1935

And we find surprising content, such as the Vegetarian Restaurant.  Did you ever imagine one might exist in NY in 1935?

Image Title:  Broadway near Broome Street, Manhattan.

Creator: Abbott, Berenice, 1898-1991 -- Photographer

Additional Name(s): Federal Art Project (New York, N.Y.) -- Sponsor

Created Date: October 07, 1935

That's not the only evidence of vegetarianism, though.  Another of Abbott's more famous images, The Blossom Restaurant, includes on its menu vegetarian loaf and veg. dinner.

Image Title:  Blossom Restaurant, 103 Bowery, Manhattan.

Creator: Abbott, Berenice, 1898-1991 -- Photographer

Additional Name(s): Federal Art Project (New York, N.Y.) -- Sponsor

Created Date: October 03, 1935

What is so reminiscent of Atget in Abbott's NY is the absence of people.  There are the wide-angle, long-distance shots like the Broadway image above, in which you can see only the whisper of a body crossing the street, or as in the Blossom's image, one or two people captured almost like props, standing, sitting, or leaning, but rarely in action.

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