Berenice Abbott, Photographer―An Independent Vision

One theme repeatedly crops up in the life and career of Berenice Abbott: her refusal to be defined by other people’s expectations. Spurning traditional roles for women of her era, she lived a bohemian life among other artists in New York’s Greenwich Village and Paris, and embarked upon a career in what was then a male-dominated field. Decades later, her photographs are celebrated as some of the most authentic images of a city ever captured on film, and she is remembered not only as a master American photographer but also as a teacher, writer, inventor, and photographic archivist.

Veteran nonfiction writer George Sullivan draws on his vast knowledge of the photographic world to chronicle Berenice Abbott’s life and career, and to present a fascinating social portrait of the artistic community of New York in the early half of the 20th century. Interviews with her contemporaries and high- quality reproductions of some of her most famous photographs provide an illuminating image of this determined, spirited woman who changed the face of American photography. Bibliography, index.

George Sullivan is the author of over 100 nonfiction books for young people. For Clarion, he is the author of PICTURING LINCOLN, another book that draws on his expert knowledge of photographic history. Mr. Sullivan lives in New York City.