Tracing Berenice Abbott’s steps in today’s Bowery

 
“After spending the 1920s as a cutting edge portrait photographer in Paris, Berenice Abbott returned to the United States to find that her documentary-like style of photography was out of fashion. In New York, Abbott ‘was unable to secure space at galleries, have her work shown at museums, or continue the working relationships she had forged with a number of magazine publications,’ states the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Lucky for Abbott—and for fans of her unromanticized images that speak for themselves—the Federal Art Project came calling. In 1935, it gave her the means to photograph the streets, buildings, and people of New York City. More than 300 resulting images were collected in Changing New York, published in 1939. ...”

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