This morning, the Ryerson Image Centre in Toronto announced a major acquisition of pioneering American artist Berenice Abbott’s archive. Best known for her black-and-white images of New York’s changing cityscape, Abbott worked as an assistant to Man Ray and was an ardent practitioner of straight photography. Her archive comprises original negatives, photographs and other working materials.
Some 6,000 photographs are included in the archive, alongside 7,000 original negatives that range from the 1920s through to the 1980s, book maquettes, correspondence, personal journals and business records. Taken together, the collection offers the largest and most comprehensive overview of the artist’s work.
The RIC noted that highlights within the archive include Abbott’s early studio portraiture from Paris and New York, photographs from Changing New York (1935–39), landscape photography, the series A Portrait of Maine (1968) and examples of her scientific photography.
The archive also includes work by French photographer Eugène Atget, who Abbott steadfastly promoted.
“We are thrilled to add the Berenice Abbott Archive to our collection,” said Paul Roth, director of the RIC, in a press release today. “Public and scholarly interest in Abbott’s work has increased significantly in recent years, and we look forward to welcoming researchers and curators so they can shine light on her extraordinary career.”
Donated by an anonymous circle of donors, the collection will join the RIC’s substantial holdings, which include the Black Star Collection of photo-reportage, various individual artists’ archives and other photographs.
