New York in 1930's by Berenice Abbott
Berenice Abbott was an American photographer best known for her black-and-white photography of New York City architecture of the 1930s.
"The camera is no more an instrument of presservation, the immage is..."
"What the human eye observes casually and incuriously, the eye of the camera... notes with relentless fidelity."
When asked is she had any gems of wisdom for the photographer today she answered: "None. They should just go out and photograph and stop talking about it. That’s the only way they are going to find themselves. They can’t do it in their heads – they have to go out and do it in the camera and get it on film."
Flatiron building, 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue, Manhattan. (May 18, 1938)
Theoline, Pier 11, East River, Manhattan. (April 09, 1936)
Charles Lane, between West and Washington Streets, Manhattan. (September 20, 1938)
Cliff and Ferry Street, Manhattan. (November 29, 1935)
Downtown Skyport, Pier 11, East River, Manhattan. (August 12, 1936)
"Brooklyn had a lot of charm - wonderful neighbourhoods, classical houses. It also had neighbourhoods like this. When I set up my camera no one paid any attention to me. I still found it difficult to photograph scenes like this; poverty distresses me very much."
Blossom Restaurant, 103 Bowery, Manhattan. (October 03, 1935)
Huts and unemployed, West Houston and Mercer St., Manhattan. (October 25, 1935)
Henry Street, Manhattan. (November 29, 1935)
Of this frame, Abbott wrote, "I always felt these elevated stations were designed by the Swiss; they looked like little chalets...It was winter and the people were inside keeping warm, waiting for a train."
'El', Second and Third Avenue lines, Bowery and Division Sts., Manhattan. (April 24, 1936)
Court of first model tenement house in New York, 72nd Street and First Avenue, Manhattan. Â [1325-1343 First Avenue, Manhattan.] (March 16, 1936)
Penn Station, Interior, Manhattan. (1935-1938, printed 1935-ca. 1990)
Nightview, New York, 1932
"In this case I was at a window, not at the top of the building (where) there would have been too much wind outside. It was, of course, hard to get permission. They always thought you wanted to commit suicide and superintendents were always tired, lazy and annoyed. They usually had to be bribed."
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