By Jun Huang and Musa Nauman
Background information
Berenice Abbott was an American photographer known for her architectural photographs of New York City and scientific approach to photography. She was born in Springfield, Ohio on July 17, 1898. Other than the fact that her mother was divorced and that she experienced a lonely childhood, not much is known about her early years. In 1918, she attended Ohio State University to study journalism. However, in merely two semester, she realized that her passions lied elsewhere. In her trip to New York City, she discovered her interest for sculptures and drawings. She was devoted to this newfound interest until 1923, where she began working as a darkroom assistant for Man Ray, an American surreal artist known for his contributions to the surrealist and Dada movement. Despite her devotion to her job, she had no interests for photography. The longer she worked, however, she developed an interest for photography. She would dedicate long hours after work to learn more about photographic techniques. Eventually, through independent research and study, she was able to accumulate enough skills to turn this hobby into her first portrait studio. Over the next few years, she continued working at her portrait studio and met Eugène Atget, whose works became fundamental to her photography. Unfortunately, before she was able to learn much from him, he passed away in 1927. Berenice, who did not want his legacy to end, retrieved most of Atget’s photos (about 1500 glass plate negatives and 8000 original prints) and moved back to New York City.
One of her works, Encampment of the unemployed (1935), truly reveals how Atget’s photography influenced her style. The first similarity between the two photos is the setting. Not only do they both take place in the streets, but the reality that it captures possesses great similarity. Although Atget was not part of the social realism movement, his works did incorporate its idea of portraying the living conditions of the working class. Abbott, on the other hand, was in fact part of the social realism movement despite her unpopularity.
Encampment of the unemployed (1935)
Cour, 41 rue Broca, 1912
Unlike other photographers, who might employ different lighting exposure, camera angles, motion blur, and other techniques that may enhance a certain aspect of a photo, she utilized a simple yet original “straight” style. One unique aspect that the style incorporated was that it was true to its surroundings. In other words, it was reality captured without any distortion. Some may refer to this style as straight photography, which focuses on the sharp details by avoiding any manipulation or special effects. For instance, the camera angle for this photo was taken at eye level. The purpose of this was to accurately recreate the moment in which is was captured through the lens of the common man. If this were to be taken at bird’s eye view, it might have given the building a more glorious view. Hence, inaccurately representing the scene. In both photos, the poor living conditions are accurately portrayed.
Socio Economic Contexts
Berenice Abbott returned to NYC in 1929 after her stay in Paris. By the time she had arrived, New York City had drastically changed. She saw amazing skyscrapers and buildings and she began to document them in the 1930’s. In the 1920’s, New York City was involved in the Roaring 20’s. During the Roaring 20’s not only was there a great cultural revolution in New York, but there was also a great construction boom. Many new buildings were constructed and some were renovated. During the 1920’s there was a great sense of wealth as the stock market was appreciating and people felt wealthy and had high hopes. Unfortunately, at the turn of the decade the stock market crashed. People lost jobs and times became tough for people. Berenice began photographing New York City architecture and New York City life during this rough time. However, she was able to continue her project as she was funded by the Federal Art Project. And in 1940, Changing New York was published with 302 pictures of New York City and the buildings.
Penn Station
Madison Square Park
Themes
Social justice
One subtle yet crucial theme evident in her straight photography was social justice. Because of the style, she was able to capture the reality of the living conditions in NYC. Similar to the works of Jacob Riis, her photos incorporated the ideas of the social realists. Encampment of the unemployed (1935), for example, captures the living conditions of the lower class. Through this photo, she was able to portray discrepancies in opportunity and wealth between the lower and upper class. However, there were several notable differences between their works that had truly revealed her intentions. Most of Riis’ works focused on the residents suffering from the harsh living conditions rather than the actual buildings. Through this style, he was able to evoke stronger sympathy from the audience. Abbott, on the contrary, focused on neither the building nor the people as their weakness captured in the photos would make one believe that they are powerless, placing the blame completely on the upper class. Unlike Riis, she did not believe that the fault belonged solely to the corrupt upper class. She realized that the problem was behind the collective behavior of New Yorkers and that everyone has the power to change the situation. Therefore, social injustice, in her perspective, was a consequence of weakness from all classes of the hierarchy.
Immigration
Berenice Abbott photographed aspects of New York City but primarily focused on New York City architecture. Many of the buildings and landmarks constructed in where done so by immigrants. Although the photographs were not directly of immigrants, they are still related as the immigrants were responsible for the construction of these buildings. For example, the Empire State building was opened in 1931 whereas construction started in 1930. However, there were many immigrants behind the construction of the building. Irish immigrants were primarily responsible for constructing the Empire State Building. Even today, we see immigrants having a large role in developing the skyline of New York.
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December 17, 2017 at 5:07 pm
Berenice Abbott reminds me of Jacob Riis. Both of them took images to reveal the horrible conditions that the lower classes were living in. Although she was inspired by Atget’s style, Abott used photography to assist others. In Abott’s photograph Encampment of the unemployed (1935), it depicts how people were impacted by the Great Depression. They were often unemployed and as a result, they could not pay their rent and ended up living on the streets. This was part of her project that she called Changing New York. She wanted to spread awareness about their situation and in the end, she produced over 300 photos.