New York at night
(1932); printed (c. 1975)
Medium
gelatin silver photograph
Measurements
34.1 × 26.1 cm (image and sheet) 49.8 × 40.0 cm (support)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of an anonymous donor in memory of Rosa Zerfas (1896-1983), 1985
©Artist estate through the Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York
Gallery location
Special Exhibitions Gallery
Ground Level, NGV International
About this work
This photograph of the illuminated buildings of New York is the result of a fifteen-minute exposure taken from high up in the Empire State Building. The idea of documenting a changing metropolis recalls the project of pioneering French photographer Eugène Atget, who recorded Paris as it transitioned from the nineteenth into the twentieth century. Berenice Abbott had befriended Atget through fellow American émigré artist Man Ray, for whom she worked as a darkroom assistant after moving to Paris in 1921. Atget’s influence on Abbott was profound: on her return to New York in 1929 she focused on documenting the city’s civic spaces and architecture.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
New York, New York, United States
Inscription
inscribed in pencil on support l.r.: BERENICE ABBOTT
artist stamp in ink on support reverse l.c.: PHOTOGRAPH / BERENICE ABBOTT (...illeg.) / ABBOTT, MAINE (...illeg.) 06
Accession Number
PH36-1985
Department
International Photography
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Bowness Family Foundation