Berenice Abbott: A Life in Photography

Van Haaften, founding curator of the New York Public Library’s photography collection, presents a thorough and enticing examination of the life of Berenice Abbott (1898–1991), a master of American modernist photography. She begins with Abbott’s unhappy Ohio childhood in an “atmosphere of constant rejection” that motivated her to move away, first to New York, and then to Paris where she was hired to work in Man Ray’s darkroom. Abbott’s portraiture earned her esteem in Paris, but her renown intensified when she returned to New York in 1930 to capture its ever-evolving contours in the series Changing New York. Van Haaften elucidates Abbott’s unique aesthetic, a style that is both documentary and emotive, as well as her ability to “achieve formal rigor and simultaneously convey... magical ethereality.” The photographer’s personal life proves equally robust, as she struggled with her own sexuality before accepting it and spending the greater part of her life with writer and critic Elizabeth McCausland. Van Haaften explores in detail Abbott’s lifelong pursuit of the money and recognition she deserved, but which proved particularly elusive due to her gender and sexuality. The result is a full and nuanced portrait of a complicated, hardworking, and creatively brilliant artist. Photos. (Apr.)