New York at Night

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New York at Night

Artist Berenice Abbott (American, 1898 -1991)

Date1934

Dimensions13 5/8 x 10 3/4 in. (34.5 x 27.3 cm);
On card mount: 20 1/16 x 16 1/16 in. (51 x 41 cm)

MediumGelatin-silver print

ClassificationPhotographs

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by an anonymous donor

Object number

1977.29

Not on View

Label TextBerenice Abbott reveled in the minute details of image-making. This photograph, taken on December 20, 1934, is a testament to her technical, visionary, and compositional skills. Abbott knew that in order to get the maximum number of jewel-like illuminated windows in her photograph, she would need to make an image on the shortest day of the year, when people would still be working after darkness had settled. Setting up her camera on one of the top floors of the Empire State Building and using a 15 minute exposure, Abbott produced a dynamic composition utilizing the strong diagonals created by Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) and Broadway in this ‘bird’s-eye’ photograph of the buildings west of the iconic skyscraper. John Canaday, in his introduction to Berenice Abbott American Photographer, described Berenice Abbott’s careful preparations to get the perfect picture to be "almost as if a trap had been set." (Berenice Abbott American Photographer, Hank O’Neal 1982) Abbott prided herself on her exacting working methods, and relished in spending time fine tuning her compositions and adjusting focus and camera angles. New York at Night is a great example of how hours of study and planning to "set a trap" could pay off. Abbott calculated that in order to get this dramatic night shot with all the office lights on she would need to expose the film in her camera for 15 minutes. She knew that most people left their offices in Manhattan at 5:00 p.m., and of course when they left they turned the lights off. The only night in the year that it would be dark enough before 5:00 p.m. to create the contrast between the building lights and the night sky is the shortest day of the year, December 20th. Abbott also knew that she couldn’t be in any wind if she had to leave her camera’s shutter open for 15 minutes, as the slightest motion could blur her picture. She sought out a building with the perfect view and got permission from the landlord to use a window. At sunset on December 20, 1934 Abbott was all set up, the weather was clear, and she got her picture.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Past and Present: Photographs from the Permanent Collection, Jan 22 - June 8, 1999 (no cat). Toledo Museum of Art, Prints, Photographs, and Drawings: Recent Acquisitions, April 1979 (no cat.) Huntington, NY, The Heckscher Museum, 2000-01.

Toledo Museum of Art, Refraction/Reflection, April 20-September 2, 2012.

Toledo Museum of Art, Looks Good on Paper: Masterworks and Favorites, Oct. 10, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Van Haaften, Julia, Berenice Abbott, New York, NY, Aperture Foundation, 2015, repr. p. 29 (same image, but with a different date).