Awards

• Long-listed for PEN/Bograd Weld Award for Biography 2019
• Long-listed for PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography 2019
• Short-listed for Lambda Literary Award 2019

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9780393292787

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Reviews

A profoundly researched biography of Berenice Abbott. Dramatically written, it is filled with delightful surprises, stunning tragedies, complex relationships...Everyone interested in the bold innovators of twentieth-century modern art will treasure this splendid book.--Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of Eleanor Roosevelt With the details and in-depth research of Julia Van Haaften, I have been introduced to Abbott in a new form...The vitality and strength of her as a woman artist is beyond moving and inspirational.--Catherine Opie, photographer Julia van Haaften's life of Berenice Abbott is immersive, passionate, well-furnished, and beautifully judged and written. It is a fitting account of an extraordinary life. It made me wish I'd known Abbott, and I'm sure every reader will feel the same way.--Luc Sante, author of The Other Paris The characters who parade through the pages of Julia Van Haaften's sparkly book--Man Ray, Duchamp, Atget, Joyce--constitute a procession of twentieth-century art in its most innovative form. She's gotten her hands on a subject who made us see the world in a new way.--James Atlas, author of Bellow: A Biography Drawing on previously untold stories of Abbott's personal and professional relationships, Van Haaften has written the definitive Abbott biography, revealing the origins of Abbott's individuality.--Douglas Levere, photographer of New York Changing: Revisiting Berenice Abbott's New York Here, at last, is photography expert Julia Van Haaften's impressively detailed, authoritatively foundational, lavishly illustrated biography of Berenice Abbott, the legendary portrait photographer whose own full portrait has long been missing from the gallery of great women artists.--Joan Schenkar, author of The Talented Miss Highsmith and Truly Wilde Although an elusive and often self-contradictory subject, Abbott could not be more grounded than in this authoritative biography. This is the best book we have on one of the twentieth century's most inventive and creative artists.--Gary Van Zante, curator, Architecture & Design, MIT Museum The improbable tale of a little Ohio girl from nowhere who made her way to Paris in the l920s, scratched out a living as an artist's model, and learned how to take pictures...[An] extensive biography which does her life, and her art, full justice.--Meryle Secrest, author of Elsa Schiaparelli Berenice Abbott: A Life in Photography is the improbable tale of a little Ohio girl from nowhere who made her way to Paris in the l920s, scratched out a living as an artist's model, and learned how to take pictures...[An] extensive biography which does her life, and her art, full justice. --Meryle Secrest, author of Elsa Schiaparelli

Although an elusive and often self-contradictory subject, Abbott could not be more grounded than in this authoritative biography. This is the best book we have on one of the twentieth century's most inventive and creative artists.--Gary Van Zante, curator of the MIT Museum Berenice Abbott: A Life in Photography is the improbable tale of a little Ohio girl from nowhere who made her way to Paris in the l920s, scratched out a living as an artist's model, and learned how to take pictures...[An] extensive biography which does her life, and her art, full justice. --Meryle Secrest, author of Elsa Schiaparelli

A profoundly researched biography of Berenice Abbott. Dramatically written, it is filled with delightful surprises, stunning tragedies, complex relationships...Everyone interested in the bold innovators of twentieth-century modern art will treasure this splendid book.--Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of Eleanor Roosevelt With the details and in-depth research of Julia Van Haaften, I have been introduced to Abbott in a new form...The vitality and strength of her as a woman artist is beyond moving and inspirational.--Catherine Opie, photographer Julia van Haaften's life of Berenice Abbott is immersive, passionate, well-furnished, and beautifully judged and written. It is a fitting account of an extraordinary life. It made me wish I'd known Abbott, and I'm sure every reader will feel the same way.--Luc Sante, author of The Other Paris Insightful. . . . A sophisticated take on Abbott's personal and artistic tragedies and triumphs.--Jane Ciabattari [Van Haaften] chronicles Abbott's demanding life and extraordinary accomplishments with scrupulous detail. . . . [Her] expert foundational biography brings Abbott into sharp focus. Thorough and enticing. . . . A full and nuanced portrait of a complicated, hardworking, and creatively brilliant artist. The characters who parade through the pages of Julia Van Haaften's lively book--Man Ray, Duchamp, Atget, Joyce--constitute a procession of twentieth-century art in its most innovative form. She's gotten her hands on a subject who made us see the world in a new way.--James Atlas, author of Bellow: A Biography Absorbing. . . . Abbott's integrity and sense of honor, her restless and fearless nature, and her absolute devotion to telling the truth of her experience, come through loud and clear. Berenice Abbott captures a large and star-studded life. . . . A vital work of American cultural history.

"""The founding curator of the New York Public Library photography collection offers an insightful biography of a pioneering photographer whose work over six decades helped define the modernist tradition... Van Haaften offers a sophisticated take on Abbott’s personal and artistic tragedies and triumphs."" -- Ten books to read in April - BBC Culture ""Berenice Abbott captures a large and star-studded life... A vital work of American cultural history."" -- The New York Times ""Absorbing... Abbott's integrity and sense of honor, her restless and fearless nature, and her absolute devotion to telling the truth of her experience, come through loud and clear."" -- The Washington Post ""Insightful... A sophisticated take on Abbott's personal and artistic tragedies and triumphs."" -- Jane Ciabattari, BBC ""This finely observed and assiduously researched book manages to pin down an artist who was, in her own words, “a little rebel from beginning to end”."" -- The Art Newspaper"

Author Information

Julia Van Haaften was founding curator of the New York Public Library’s photography collection in 1980, and was instrumental in furthering digital initiatives at the library and the Museum of the City of New York. She lives in New York.

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