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... Read More
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.