Great Black and White Photographers, Part 2!

          Bernice Abbott was born in Springford, Ohio on 1898 and passed away in Monson, Maine in 1991.  She gradated from Ohio State University and then went on to New York to study journalism and later in sculptures and painting. In 1921 she moved to Paris where she study with sculptor Emile Bourdelle and photographer Man Ray, afterwards she opened up her own studio. After much success in Paris, Abbott returned to the United states in 1929 where she set out on the project to photograph New York. In 1936 Abbott, with the help of Paul Strand, established the Photo League. Its purpose was to provide the radical press with photographs of trade union activities and political protests. The group members concentrated mostly on photographing working class communities. Abbott's photographs appeared in exhibitions at the Museum of the City, a book called Changing New York, and she even published a Guide to Better Photography.