Berenice Abbott, 1898-1991El Station Interior, Sixth and Ninth Avenue Lines, 72nd Street1936, (printed later)
1936, (printed later)
About the Item
- Creator:Berenice Abbott, 1898-1991 (1898-1991, American)
- Creation Year:1936, (printed later)
- Dimensions:Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 15 in (38.1 cm)Depth: 0.75 in (1.91 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:The print and mat are in excellent condition. It is simply framed for protection in a black wood frame which is in fair/poor condition with numerous small scratches. Please see pictures.
- Gallery Location:San Francisco, CA
- Reference Number:
Berenice Abbott, 1898-1991
While photographer Berenice Abbott has wrongly never been heralded as one of the defining giants of 20th-century photography, she is widely known, indeed celebrated, for her iconic portraits of some of the most glamorous denizens of 1920s bohemian Paris.
And although less familiar, Abbott’s photos of the deserted streets, aging tenements and rising office towers of Depression-era New York have been critically recognized as nothing short of groundbreaking. Additionally, her relatively obscure work as a science photographer has received an admiring reappraisal in recent years. Recognized for having dramatically advanced the medium’s aesthetics and techniques (earning four patents along the way), not to mention the ambition of her subject matter — the principle laws of physics — she has been favorably compared to two early masters of modernist experimentation: her mentor Man Ray and László Moholy Nagy.
In 1918, at just 19, freckled, androgynous and with cropped hair, Abbott fell in with a crowd that included the lesbian writer and illustrator Djuna Barnes and the Dadaists Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. They encouraged her to follow them to Paris and study with the renowned sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. Unable to pay for her training, and barely surviving, Abbott took a job as Man Ray’s assistant. The miracles of the darkroom quickly converted her to photography, as did her paycheck, and Man Ray tutored her in its fundamentals.
By 1926, Abbott had set up her own studio with backing from Peggy Guggenheim, the American heiress and art patron. André Gide, Jean Cocteau, Janet Flanner and James Joyce were among the luminaries and socialites who came for sittings. Her subversive lens made for riveting portraits.
A number of Abbott’s images of New York appear to have been shot by drone or, in the technological equivalent for the day, a dirigible. They actually entailed her stationing herself precariously on the rooftops and ledges of the skyscrapers along Wall Street and Midtown.
That feat recalls the famous photograph of Abbott’s contemporary and fellow Ohioan Margaret Bourke-White taking a shot of the New York skyline astride one of the metallic eagle heads atop the Chrysler building. One can only wonder if a photograph of Abbott in a similarly heroic pose would have helped her recognition as the trailblazing documentarian she was.
Find Berenice Abbott photography on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: San Francisco, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Prehistoric Rain Forest, OregonBy Geir JordahlLocated in San Francisco, CAArtist: Geir Jordahl – American (1957- ) Title: Prehistoric Rain Forest, Oregon Year: 1988 Medium: Silver Gelatin photograph using infrared film Sight size: 8 x 19.75 inches. Framed size: 16.25 x 26.25 inches Signature: Signed on the mount Edition: 50. This one: 2/50. (Fewer than 50 were actually printed) Condition: Very good Frame: Framed in original metal frame. Frame in fair condition This photograph depicts a lush area in Oregon with many ferns and trees as well as a painted dinosaur head...Category
1980s Realist Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Ecumenical Service, Grace Cathedral, San FranciscoBy Geir JordahlLocated in San Francisco, CAArtist: Geir Jordahl – American (1957- ) Title: Ecumenical Service, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco Year: 1987 Medium: Silver Gelatin photograph Sight size...Category
1980s Realist Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Waipio Valley, HawaiiBy Geir JordahlLocated in San Francisco, CAArtist: Geir Jordahl – American (1957- ) Title: Waipio Valley, Hawaii Year: 1987 Medium: Silver Gelatin photograph using infrared film Sight size: 8.25 x ...Category
1980s Realist Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Feet, BrazilBy Sebastião SalgadoLocated in San Francisco, CAArtist: Sebastiao Salgado – Brazilian (1944-) Title: Feet, Brazil Year: 1983 Medium: Gelatin silver print Sight size: 6 7/8 x 10.5 inches Signature: Signed and dated on reverse. Blin...Category
1980s Realist Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Untitled (Stacked Cups)By Jed DevineLocated in San Francisco, CAArtist: Jed Devine American (1944- ) Title: Untitled (Stacked Cups) Date: 1987 Medium: Platinum-palladium print on Japanese rice paper Image size: 9.5 x 7.5 inches (9.25 x 7.25 inches within mat) Sheet size: 12 x 9 inches Framed size: 20.25 x 16.25 inches Signature: signed lower right in pencil Edition: unknown This sublime photograph is by Jed Devine. It is signed in the lower right in pencil. There is a gallery label from the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco on the reverse of the framed work. It is framed in a simple metal frame. The photograph, mat and frame are in very good condition. Jed Devine was born in Mount Kisco, New York, in 1944 and raised in Pleasantville, a Westchester County suburb. Devine cites Walter Hahn, his junior high school art teacher, as having an instrumental role in his art career decision: “I don’t know how it happened that a serious artist like Walter Hahn was teaching art at Pleasantville Junior High, but I was most fortunate to have him as a mentor and I’ve always been grateful to him.” In 1967, Jed Devine graduated cum laude from Yale University with a BA in fine arts and began his career as a painter. In 1972, he returned to Yale to study design and photography and was awarded an MFA degree. He joined the Purchase College faculty in 1977. During his tenure at Purchase, several of his students went on to receive recognition as photographers, among them Adam Baer, Gregory Crewdson, Regina DeLuise, Andrea Modica, Deborah Mesa-Pelly, and Roger Newton. Jed Devine’s photography is represented in many major museum, corporate, university, and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum; London; the International Center of Photography, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Originally trained as a painter, Devine began taking photographs in 1972 and became fascinated by the effects of light on objects and surfaces, and the sensuality that was possible with the platinum-palladium process. This sensuality is on full display in Devine’s only book, Friendship, a collaboration with the writer Jim Dinsmore, whose 64 images “form an extended sequence that moves from innocence to decay and return. The images emphasize the beauty and primacy of light while capturing the visual drama and irony of the Maine landscape.” Devine also has a long-standing relationship with New York City, which is most evident in his portfolio of panoramic photographs celebrating New York bridges...Category
1980s Realist Still-life Photography
MaterialsPaper, Platinum
- Cristo, Tlacochahuaya, OaxacaBy Paul Strand, 1890-1976Located in San Francisco, CAArtist: Paul Strand – American (1890-1976) Title: Cristo, Tlacochahuaya, Oaxaca Year: 1933, printed 1967, Da Capo Press, New York Medium: Photogravure hand-printed from the original plates on BFK Rives paper Publisher: Da Capo Press, 1967, New York Sight size: 10 ¼ x 7 7/8 in. (260 x 200 mm) Sheet size: 15 3/4 x 12 3/8 in. (402 x 313 mm) Framed size: 17 x 14 inches Edition:1000 Condition: Excellent This hand-pulled photogravure is from Paul Strand’s Mexican Portfolio, first published in 1933. This photogravure is from the 2nd edition, published in 1967. It is in excellent condition. It is enclosed in a simple metal frame and Plexiglas only for protection. A seminal work by a legendary figure in 20th century American photography, the photographs taken by the author on his travels through Mexico in 1932-33 show architecture, landscape, the indigenous people, and religious folk sculpture. Strand's work first made its appearance as "Photographs of Mexico" in a limited edition of 250 copies in 1940, with the printing of the steel-faced gravure plates by master platemaker Otto Wackernagel being supervised by Strand himself and executed by Charles Furth and the Photogravure and Color Company. The second edition used the original Wackernagel plates, printed by Albert Delong at the Andersen Lamb Company of Brooklyn. Strand was even more pleased with this version, stating "Delong has made these plates sing." The images are a celebration of the subjects' pride, dignity and endurance. Paul Strand (1890–1976) is considered one of the most significant photographers of the 20th century. His breakthrough work in the 1910s heralded photography’s importance as a modern art form. Early in his career he broke from the soft, impressionistic Pictorialist style to produce among the first abstract images made with a camera. His questioning attitude led him to radically change his work multiple times in his career, always with the highest ambitions for the quality of his photographic prints. In 1932, Carlos Chavez, the director of the fine arts department at the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico, invited Strand to Mexico. At this time, the Mexican government was concerned with demonstrating a national culture that was reflective of a burgeoning, modern, twentieth-century Mexico. In light of this, Chavez invited Strand to document the new social and physical environment. Over the next two years, Strand travelled around Mexico photographing...Category
1930s Realist Black and White Photography
MaterialsPaper, Photogravure
- Nude (Madonna), Lee FriedlanderBy Lee FriedlanderLocated in Fairfield, CTArtist: Lee Friedlander (1934) Title: Nude (Madonna) Year: 1979, printed by the photographer later. Medium: Silver Gelatin Print Size: 12 1/8 x 8 1/8 inches Condition: Excellent Insc...Category
1970s Realist Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Leaf on AsphaltBy Brett WestonLocated in Buffalo, NY"Leaf on Asphalt is signed and dated on the front of the mount. Limited Edition work from the Hawaii Portfolio.Category
1970s Realist Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Untitled (Lower West Side)By Milton RogovinLocated in Buffalo, NYAn original gelatin silver print by American social documentary photographer Milton Rogovin depicting a resident of Buffalo's East Side in the early 1960's. This work is hand signed ...Category
1970s Realist Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Ice AbstractionBy Brett WestonLocated in Buffalo, NYSigned and dated on the front of the mount. Limited edition of 35. Number 9 of 35. From the “Twenty Photographs, 1970-1977” Portfolio.Category
1970s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Eggs and SlicerBy Edward WestonLocated in Buffalo, NYEdward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Eggs and Slicer, 1930 Gelatin silver print, printed later by Cole Weston; signed, titled, dated and numbered '3E' by Cole Weston in pencil and 'Ed...Category
1950s Realist Still-life Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Manufacturer’s Trust BankBy Brett WestonLocated in Buffalo, NY"Manufacturer's Trust Bank" from the portfolio "Fifteen Photographs". Signed and dated from a limited edition.Category
1950s Realist Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin