Berenice Abbott

1898 – 1991; born in Springfield, Ohio

Born “Bernice Abbott,” she worked as a photographer whose themes from the 1920s to the 1960s encompassed portraits, New York City, science, and American scenes. In 1929, Abbott began study of New York City, received funding for the project in 1935 from the Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project. In 1937, she opened an exhibit that featured these works at the Museum of the City of New York. She published Changing New York, a book based on this exhibited work in 1939. She also published (with text by Henry Wysham Lanier) Greenwich Village: Yesterday and Today in 1949 and A Portrait of Maine (with text by Chenoweth Hall) in 1968. Abbott founded the photography program at the New School for Social Research, on faculty 1934-1958. She holds four U.S. patents.

SOURCES:

“Berenice Abbott: American, 1898-1991.” 2009. National Museum of Women in the Arts: The Permanent Collection. http://www.nmwa.org/collection/profile.asp?LinkID=175, 13 October 2009.

“Berenice Abbott’s Changing New York.” Museum of the City of New York. http://www.mcny.org/museum-collections/berenice-abbott/abbott.htm, 13 October 2009.

Corinne, Tee A. “Abbott, Berenice (1898-1991).” 13 January 2006. glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Queer Culture. http://www.glbtq.com/arts/abbott_b.html, 13 October 2009.

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