BERENICE ABBOTT

b. 1974, United States

Jean Cocteau’s Hands, 1927 from Berenice Abbott:
Faces of the 20’s, 1981

Gelatin silver print
Edition of 60
16 x 20 in.

Collection of The Bass
Gift of Milton Feldman
1982.002.004

American photographer Berenice Abbott was a critical figure in the photographic circles and cultural hubs of Paris and New York, as she was an important bridge between the two worlds in the early 20th Century. She is best known for the preservation of works by photographer Eugene Atget whose Parisian landscapes influenced Abbott’s most famous body of work, Changing New York, a WPA Federal Art Project capturing the architecture and shifting social landscape of the city during the Great Depression, which to this day remains a classic text for historians.

Prior to her portraits of New York City, Abbott lived in Paris where she worked as Man Ray’s darkroom assistant in his studio, an experience that led her to photography and later establishing herself as an independent photographer whose portraits of well-known artists and writers rivaled those of Man Ray in excellence and stature. Berenice Abbott: Faces of the 20’s is the artist’s portfolio of 12 prints from her time as a portraitist in Paris, readily defining Abbott’s own era and distinct manner of composition and style.