Berenice Abbott (American, 1898-1991)

Berenice Abbott moved to Paris in 1921 to study sculpture and became Man Ray's photographic assistant in his portrait business. Five years later the Ohio native opened her own studio and photographed such luminaries as Peggy Guggenheim, James Joyce, and Jean Cocteau. She met Eugene Atget, who died in 1927, and spent the next decade organizing and promoting his work. From 1929-1939 Abbott documented New York City's architecture, businesses, and neighborhoods in a survey titled "Changing New York" that was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 1934. She taught at the New School for Social Research, wrote "how-to" books on photography, and documented the Eastern seaboard from Maine to Florida. - Marjorie Young

Selected Bibliography
Abbott, Berenice. Changing New York. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1939.

Sullivan, Constance. Women Photographers. Essay by Eugenia Parry Janis. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1990.

Van Hoaften, Julia. Berenice Abbott. New York: Aperture, 1988.

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