Gunsmith and Police Department Headquarters
1937
Modern Photography
Gelatin silver print
Collection of Museum of the City of New York, New York, New York, USA
Reflecting Abbott’s fascination with the vernacular culture of New York “Gunsmith and Police Department Headquarters” fills the frame with a handgun sign viewed from below against the façade of the facing building, the city’s police department. Abbott employed a low angle to monumentalize the ephemeral sign.
Berenice Abbott
Straight Photography, Dada and Surrealist Photography, Modern Photography
Born: 17 July 1898, Ohio, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 9 December 1991, Maine, USA
Abbott was a photographer particularly known for portraits and documentary photographs which stressed the communicative and educational value of the photographic print. She followed a realist vision in her photographs recording history and her own experience to potentially inspire change in her audience., purposely facilitating interaction between the photographer, the photograph, and the viewer. Her realistic approach to photography originated in her career as a portrait photographer in Paris and the photographic realism of Eugène Atget. Following eight years working in Paris, Abbot moved to New York in 1929 and began to document the modern transformation of the city
Jezzie G 