Quote of the Week by Berenice Abbott

“Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.” —Berenice Abbott (1898–1991)

Berenice Abbott was a pioneering American documentary photographer. She is best known for her series Changing New York, which captures the architecture and shifting social landscape of the city during the Great Depression. This body of work still remains a classic text for historians of photography. Abbott was also responsible for preserving and promoting the legacy of Eugène Atget. Her photographs are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, among others.