?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,500
BERENICE ABBOTT (1898-1991)
Manhattan Bridge (looking up). 1936. Silver print, the image measuring 24¾x19¾ cm, 9¾x7¾ inches, the sheet slightly larger; with Abbott's Commerce St. and her Federal Art Project "Changing New York" stamps, and the title, location, date, and negative number in pencil on verso.
Berenice Abbott's multi-year documentary project photographing New York City's built environment and its material culture remains one of the most enduring and influential bodies of work from the 20th century. Though she began the project in 1929, it wasn't until 1935 that Abbott was accepted by the WPA Federal Art Project, working as a 'supervisor' for the government program meant to employ artists and other related workers. The project resulted in a 1939 traveling exhibition and book called Changing New York, the latter of which reproduced 97 photographs and included text by Elizabeth McCausland.
