by johnny terpot
Berenice Abbott (July 17, 1898 – December 9, 1991), née Bernice Abbott, was an American photographer best known for her black-and-white photography of New York City architecture and urban design of the 1930’s.
In 1929, Berenice Abbott documented New York City in her first major photography project. Many of Abbott’s most well known New York photographs were produced under the auspices of The Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1939. Her photographs are bold and striking as they are high contrast black and white. Abbott takes her photographs from interesting angles to accentuate certain objects and buildings making them look fierce and dramatic. Her use of vertical, horizontal, diagonal and sometimes curved lines in the photographs express a sense of power and strength. Abbott’s photographs certainly have a very Modernist feel. I am similarly going to take black and white photographs of buildings from high and low angles to create a dramatic picture.
