BERENICE ABBOTT, PHOTOGRAPHER

Berenice Abbott was a “fierce champion of photographic realism.” Though a renowned portrait photographer in Paris in the late 1920s, her landmark accomplishment was her Changing New York series, documenting the growth of New York City in the 1930s. This gorgeously produced volume is a fine celebration of the work of an important American artist. Beautifully reproduced photographs, many full-page, are a record of Abbott’s work and are, at the same time, a cultural history for young readers. The prose is lively and engaging, clearly the work of a writer passionate about his subject. Sullivan does a fine job of recreating the political and artistic temperament of the times and presenting the life of a woman who pursued her art with determination and courage. Extensive source notes and bibliography round out a fascinating volume that will introduce Abbott to young readers. A fine companion to Elizabeth Partridge’s Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange (1998) and Susan Goldman Rubin’s Margaret Bourke-White (1999). (acknowledgments, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)