Returning from Paris to New York in 1929, Berenice Abbott was struck by changes in the city, the result of the second great skyscraper boom. Towers crowded the narrow streets of the financial district and fanned out from Grand Central Terminal in midtown. At first independently and then with the support of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration and the Museum of the City of New York, Abbott set out to “make a documentary interpretation of the City of New York.” Between 1935 and 1939 Abbott produced in excess of one thousand negatives for the project she would later call Changing New York. The final series included 305 photographs supported by historical data compiled by Abbott’s staff of researchers.

The images displayed here—part of the Bell Gallery collection—are from New York in the 30s and Retrospective, portfolios that were printed by the artist and published by Parasol Press in the late 70s and early 80s.

Curated by Jo-Ann Conklin
image: Gunsmith and Police Department (Lava Gunsmith), ca. 1930