Berenice Abbott
1898–1991 · United States
Making a changing city legible.
The story
After a period in Paris, where she worked with Man Ray and discovered Atget, Abbott returned to the United States and began Changing New York. She recorded the metropolis’s transformations, contrasts of scale and the coexistence of old buildings with new architecture. She also developed a scientific photographic practice. Her images combine observation with education: rather than picturesque scenery, they seek ways to make urban or physical structures visible.
Understanding the work
Follow the lines that set old against new. A façade is more than an architectural subject: it reveals uses, neighbouring relationships and the organisation of a city.
Key works and series
Changing New York; scientific photographs.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
10 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
