Automat, 977 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan

Berenice Abbott
$85.00
Size

Add Custom Frame

Frames ship to U.S. addresses only. Framed prints ship in 2–4 weeks and are final sale. Full framing details

Add Custom Frame

Frames ship to U.S. addresses only. Framed prints ship in 2–4 weeks and are final sale. Full framing details

Add Custom Frame

Frames ship to U.S. addresses only. Framed prints ship in 2–4 weeks and are final sale. Full framing details

Add Custom Frame

Frames ship to U.S. addresses only. Framed prints ship in 2–4 weeks and are final sale. Full framing details
Artist Statement
This sweet slice of 1930s food service innovation was photographed by renowned artist and NYC chronicler Berenice Abbott in 1936. The photo’s starring subject? The mighty automat—a giant, fancy vending machine and gleaming testament to instant gratification, seen here doling out America’s go-to baked good. Automat, 977 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan is all about the automated food-serving apparatus itself. The photo's angle emphasizes the splendor of the neatly organized array. The man with his back turned to the camera offered Abbott the perfect opportunity to show a patron interacting with the vending machine without the visual distraction of a face. This is a contraption worth marveling at, the image seems to suggest, and at the time this was shot, automats were indeed in their heyday.
Why We Love It

Abbott captured this image in 1936 in one of several NYC locations of the automat restaurant chain Horn & Hardart. Despite their humble prices and waiterless service, the restaurants themselves were rather resplendent, with design details that referenced Parisian bistros. In Automat, 977 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan you can catch the sheen of marble countertops, chrome fixtures, and delicately carved accents. Signs call you to “PIES” in all-caps, Art Deco-esque lettering. Sleek steel and glass cubbies house every edible item in a clean, illuminated grid. Peer a little closer and you’ll see the pies are plated on real china, to be eaten with proper flatware. Coffee may have cost just a nickel a cup, but it flowed from silver dolphin spouts imported from Italy. Beyond that, the cuisine was also reputedly above par. Horn & Hardart’s menu hinged on homestyle comfort food crafted from high-quality ingredients: mac and cheese, baked beans, fresh-squeezed OJ, coffee brewed every 20 minutes (their most popular item), and of course, all kinds of pies. Baked fresh every day, their savory or sweet pies spanned the classics, from pumpkin to pot pie ... Read more on the blog! 

Details

+ Limited-edition, exclusive to 20x200
+ Museum quality: archival inks, 100% cotton rag paper unless noted
+ Handcrafted custom-framing is available

Our quoted dimensions are for the size of paper containing the images, not the printed image itself. We do not alter the aspect ratio, nor do we crop or resize the artists’ originals. All of our prints have a minimum border of .5 inches to allow for framing.

Medium

Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta

Edition Structure:
8"x10" | edition of 10
11"x14" | edition of 200
16"x20" | edition of 50
20"x24" | edition of 10
Artist - Berenice Abbott

Berenice Abbott

Berenice Abbott was an American photographer best known for her black and white photography of New York City architecture and urban design of the 1930s. Abbott was born in Springfield, Ohio. She attended the Ohio State University, but left in early 1918. Abbott went to Europe in 1921, spending two years studying sculpture in Paris and Berlin. In addition to her work in the visual arts, Abbott published poetry in the experimental literary journal transition. Abbott first became involved with photography in 1923, when Man Ray, looking for somebody who knew nothing about photography and thus would do as he said, hired her as a darkroom assistant at his portrait studio in Montparnasse. In 1926, she had her first solo exhibition (in the gallery Au Sacre du Printemps) and started her own studio on the rue du Bac. In early 1929, Abbott visited New York and was struck by its photographic potential. She moved to the city and began work on her New York project, which she worked on independently until 1935, when she was hired by the Federal Art Project as a project supervisor for her Changing New York project. She continued to take the photographs of the city, but she had assistants to help her both in the field and in the office. This arrangement allowed Abbott to devote all her time to producing, printing and exhibiting her photographs. By the time she resigned from the FAP in 1939, she had produced 305 photographs that were then deposited at the Museum of the City of New York.