Berenice Abbott. (Springfield, Ohio, 1898-Monson, Maine, 1991) begins her university studies with the intention of becoming a journalist. In 1918, she moved to New York and settled in the Greenwich Village, a stimulating meeting point for artists and intellectuals that facilitated her first contact with creators such as Marcel Duchamp, at this time she began to practice sculpture.
Three years later, she traveled to Europe and settled in Paris, where she began to work as an assistant in the studio of Man Ray and discovered her true vocation: photography. In the mid-1920s, Abbott met Eugène Atget and was impressed by his work; The qualities that she is able to perceive in her inspire from the beginning a deep respect for the French photographer and also provide her with an important reference in which to turn her aspirations as a photographer. After the death of the French photographer, Abbott buys all his personal file.
Her work is the subject of a retrospective exhibition in 1970 at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and in 1983 she became the first photographer admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1988 the French government named it Officier des Arts et Lettres and also received the Master of Photography award, granted by the International Center of Photography in New York.
Three years later, she traveled to Europe and settled in Paris, where she began to work as an assistant in the studio of Man Ray and discovered her true vocation: photography. In the mid-1920s, Abbott met Eugène Atget and was impressed by his work; The qualities that she is able to perceive in her inspire from the beginning a deep respect for the French photographer and also provide her with an important reference in which to turn her aspirations as a photographer. After the death of the French photographer, Abbott buys all his personal file.
Her work is the subject of a retrospective exhibition in 1970 at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and in 1983 she became the first photographer admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1988 the French government named it Officier des Arts et Lettres and also received the Master of Photography award, granted by the International Center of Photography in New York.
