Metropolitan Museum on a rainy day (photo: dreamstime.com)
It was a cool and drizzly day when we headed on our journey to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to meet up with friends. With many special functions going on, we concentrated on the Berenice Abbott Exhibit.
1921 portrait of Berenice Abbott by Man Ray. Image from the Museum of Modern Art Archives.
Berenice Alice Abbott (1898 – 1991) was an American photographer who documented 1930’s urban New York. Born Bernice Abbott, she briefly attended Ohio State University before leaving in early 1918 and moving to New York City. In NY, Bernice studied sculpture and painting. Looking to improve her skills, she travelled to Paris in 1921 and studied sculpture with Emile Bourdelle. It was while in Paris that she adopted the French spelling “Berenice”.
In Paris (1923), the famous photographer, Man Ray, was seeking a darkroom assistant, someone with no previous knowledge of photography. Willing to take on a challenge, Abbott applied for the position and was hired.
Abbott wrote:
“I took to photography like a duck to water. I never wanted to do anything else.”
Taken by her skills, he allowed her to use his studio to take her own photos. Abbott’s subjects were people in the artistic and literary worlds, French nationals, and casual visitors.
Berenice Abbott portrait of James Joyce (1926). Image from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 1925, Man Ray introduced her to the photographic works of Eugène Atget. Meeting Atget, she persuaded him to sit for a portrait in 1927. He died shortly thereafter and Abbott acquired the prints and negatives remaining in Eugène Atget’s studio at his death in 1927.
Berenice visited New York City in early 1929 and saw the potential that could be captured by photography. By September of the same year, she closed her Paris studio and moved back to New York City.
Over the next decade, she documented the ever-changing landscape of the city as it became a modern metropolis. Her work is a historical record of many now-destroyed buildings and neighborhoods in Manhattan.
Abbott’s album showing the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan. Photo by the authors.
Another page from Berenice’s 1929 photo album of New York City, showing the 9th Avenue El Station and the NYC waterfront. Photo by the authors.
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- Automat, 877 Ninth Avenue was one of Abbott’s 1930s photographs that was in her 1939 book, Changing New York. Photo by the authors.
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- Another photograph from Changing New York – Manhattan Bridge Looking Up (1936). Photo by authors.
The culmination of Abbott’s 1930s New York City photographs, Changing New York, 1939, published by E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc. Photo by the authors.
Moving from the Berenice Abbott exhibit, we moved to the Modern and Contemporary Art.
On our way to Gallery 912 (Abstraction), we came across some treasures of Modern America paintings from the 1920s – 1940s. The most impressive, in our opinion, is America Today (1930 – 1931). This massive mural by Thomas Hart Benton (1889 – 1975). Benton, commissioned by the New School for Social Research to paint a mural for the board room of their new building on West 12th Street, designed by Joseph Urban. Even though created at the onset of The Great Depression, the mural, consisting of ten panels, showcasing American industry from the rural South to the industrialized North projects hope and promise. The video below tells the story of the mural’s fascinating history and how it ended up in the Met’s collection.
Chris taking in the “Instruments of Power” panel of Thomas Hart Benton’s massive mural America Today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by the authors.
In addition to America Today, there were three paintings from the interwar period that caught our eye. In chronological order the first was, Edison Mazda (1924), by Stuart Davis (1892 – 1964). Clearly inspired by the cubist works of Pablo Picasso and George Barque, with its use of collage-like composition and flattened space. The artwork of Davis’ has also been describes as proto pop art, with his use of bold and brash colors.
Edison Mazda (1924) by Stuart Davis. Photo by the authors.
The second painting, Georgia O’Keeffe’s (1887 – 1986) The East River from the Shelton Hotel (1928) is the view O’Keeffe had from her apartment window on the 30th floor of the Shelton Hotel. Anthony, being more of a city guy, is fonder of her city scapes than her series of flowers. He loves the way she captures the particular bleak feel of the East River water front and Long Island City on a winter’s day.
Georgia O’Keeffe’s East River from the Shelton Hotel (1928). Photo by the authors.
And then there’s Let My People Go (circa 1935) by Aaron Douglas (1899 – 1979). Douglas, a major graphic artist and muralist of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s and 1930s, visually interprets the biblical story of God’s order to Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, in his flat, silhouetted style.
Let My People Go (circa 1935) by Aaron Douglas. Photo by the authors.
While the Berenice Abbott exhibition was the major draw to visit the Metropolitan, their collection of Ruba Rombic glassware were more must see items. This Cubist inspired glass, designed by Reuben Haley (1872 – 1933) in 1928 is one of our favorite.
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- Collection featuring Ruba Rombic, and cigarette boxes by Donald Deskey and Wolfgang Hoffmann
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- Collection of items designed by Henry Dreyfuss and Walter Dorwin Teague
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- Collection of Norman Bel Geddes, Russell Wright, Walter Dorwin Teague, Raymond Loewy
Some of the Metropolitan’s collection of Consolidated Glass Company’s Ruba Rombic glassware. Photo by the authors.
The four pieces (out of seven) on display are, (from left to right) the Whiskey Glass, 10 oz. Tumbler, 9 oz. Tumbler and the Jug, all in the pieces displayed are in Consolidated Glass’ cased, silver color.
Found in Gallery 912 – Abstraction, along with Ruba Rombic, is this group of iconic 1920s and 1930s design. I hate to say it but this “gallery” almost seems like an after thought, off to the side and tucked away, practically underneath a staircase.
From left to right, Birtman electric toaster, Sparton Bluebird (Model 566) Radio, and Westclox’s 1938 “Big Ben” alarm clock. Photo by the authors.
The Birtman Toaster from 1932 (with a window in it so you watch the bread turning brown) and Westclox 1938 version of the “”Big Ben” alarm clock are both designs by Henry Dreyfuss (1904 – 1972). And Sparton’s Bluebird radio is a famous piece created by Walter Dorwin Teaque (1883 – 1960).
Light court of the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by the authors.
Our final stop was the American Wing. Set on two balconies surrounding a large light court were examples of early American silver, glass, and ceramics.
Charger made by The Kalo Shop in Chicago, Illinois, circa 1937. Photo by the authors.
“Our America” pottery series by Rockwell Kent for Vernon Kilns, 1939. Photo by the authors.
Prominently featured were glass panels by the Tiffany Studio, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 – 1959) and George Washington Maher (1864 – 1926) among others.
Autumn Landscape (1923-1924), attributed to Agnes F. Northtrop (1857 – 1953) made by the Tiffany Studios. Photo by the authors.
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- George Washington Maher Panel (photo: cdn.incollect.com)
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- Frank Lloyd Wright Panel (photo: Metropolitan Museum)
Deco, or not?
Here is a sweet little pitcher. But is it deco?
Not!
