Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Changing New York
Image not available
- Description
- Berenice Abbott "was one of the most important American advocates of modernist-documentary photography, both in her writings and in her photography. ... To her the poetic and historical aspects of the documentary mode were its most important, although she was not opposed to its reformist role. She demonstrated this in her contribution to the bibliography of the 1930s documentary--Changing New York. Changing New York is clearly inspired by Abbott's understanding of Atget. Her theme is one firmly in the Atget mould--the constant regeneration and renewal of the modern city, the old squeezed out by the new, the small trader squeezed out by big business. She demonstrates that she absorbed the iconography of Atget and [Walker] Evans, the shopfronts and signs, the street traders and furniture, the contrast between ancient and modern. And yet, despite its splendid New Vision-style cover, and the individual excellence of Abbott's images, Changing New York falls a little short in reflecting the city's dynamism. ... [this is both a comprehensive and personal view of New York in the 1930s when, despite the Depression, some of the most enduring twentieth-century monuments were being developed, and old neighborhoods cleared away for new skyscrapers. Changing New York not only fulfils Abbott's criterion for the historical importance of the documentary mode, but also demonstrates its power of personal expression."--The Photobook : A History Volume I / Martin Parr and Gerry Badger. London : Phaidon, 2004.
