Customer Reviews

Berenice Abbot (Aperture Masters of Photography)

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I thought this was a wonderful pictorial two volume treat revealing the best of Berenice Abbott's work. Like others I was aware of her remarkable coverage of New York architecture in the thirties but I didn't know that she also worked on a large assignment in 1954 photographing US Route 1 from Florida to Maine and between 1940 and 1961 developed techniques for doing scientific photos.

Book One starts with Hank O'Neal's succinct eleven page essay followed by: Portraits (1925 to 1985) with forty-two plates; The American Scene (1935 to 1983) with forty-six plates; and Science with twenty-three plates. I thought the portraits more interesting for the people she photographed, especially the ones taken in Paris during the twenties, rather than the images themselves. Turn over the pages and a string of cultural personalities pass before you: Peggy Guggenheim; James Joyce; Jean Cocteau; Andre Gide; Edna St. Vincent Millay or Sylvia Beach for instance. The American Scene selection I found much more fascination with the 1954 Route 1 photos very reminiscent of the FSA images from the thirties. The science selection by their nature don't easily fall into what might be called creative photography but I thought the interesting point here is that a female had successfully invaded what was essentially a male preserve of scientific photography and Abbott more or less did it on her own.

Book Two has 149 photos devoted to New York taken between 1930 and 1956 though there are only seven taken after 1938 so the bulk of them are from Abbott's monumental study capturing the changing face of New York buildings and everyday life. These photos are really quite stunning, the sort of images that you can pore over and still find something fresh each time you look.

The two books, needless to say, are wonderful to handle and look at. Each spread has a big photo on the right and a caption centered on the left and for many of the photos, in both books, there are observations from Abbott about the images. Excellent matt art paper and 175 screen deliver a beautiful package to sum up the life of a great American creative photographer.

***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

Very nicely done and bound. A good value considering all the images you have in two volumes made by this famous and most excellent photographer.

I you like beautiful books I'd stongly recommend this fine two volume boxed set. We all know the quality of Abbott's work and it is displayed here with care and reverence. This is a special book. I was going to give it to my son who is a professional photographer, but selfisness has overcome me and its staying right here in my library. Edwin Blair

In 1921, with no money nor any knowledge of the French language, Berenice Abbott moved to Paris. Soon, she began travelling in the social circles of Paris' artistic avant garde. She learned photography from Man Ray and became a good friend of the celebrated Parisian photographer Eugene Atget. Inspired by Atget's passion for documenting the rapidly modernizing Paris, Abbott returned to New York City.

Berenice Abbot spent the 1930's travelling the streets of New York Street with her large format camera. She chronicled a dynamic city that would soon become the world's most important city. Abbot's urban landscapes are not for every taste. [...] this volume permits the unitiated reader to explore the photographs of a major American photogapher. A good value and highly recommended.

I really want this 2 vol set for my library. Have ordered twice and in both cases poorly packed from shipper, therefore books were damaged. This is a heavy set and needs to be well-protected in shipping. Because it is so beautiful, I am giving Amazon one more attempt to ship. Susan Bank