The Photography of Berenice Abbott: The Harlem Community Art Center, Changing New York

For Immediate Release

The Arts At Page Library Presents its Winter 2016 Exhibition, The Photography of Berenice Abbott, The Harlem Community Art Center, Changing New York

December 19, 2016 - January 30, 2017

 

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Jefferson City, MO--The Arts At Page Library - Online Exhibition Space presents a unique up close and personal exhibition featuring the photography of Berenice Abbott - a critically acclaimed photographer on December 19, 2016, on view until January 30, 2017. The Photography of Berenice Abbott, The Harlem Community Art Center, Changing New York will feature nearly 20 images taken by the artist during the Great Depression. In addition, the exhibition will feature public domain archival materials, including a book excerpt, a video documentary created by an independent artist, a cumulative report about the center by Gwendolyn Bennett, and posters from the Harlem Renaissance, Federal Arts Project (FAP). Berenice Abbott’s photography empowered people; she was coined with the adage, “Feminist Pioneer of NYC Photography” and “The Photographer of New York” by her peers.

Born in 1898 in Springfield, Ohio, Berenice Abbott was one of the first American photographers to have the opportunity to document the Great Depression as an artist project supervisor for the Federal Art Project (FAP). The artist’s journey began at the University of Ohio, where she studied theater and sculpture. She left the university in 1918 to pursue her full-time career as an artist. In 1921, she sailed to France and lived abroad for two years, where she was hired to work for the famous French photographer Man Ray, as his darkroom assistant. Thereafter, she branched out on her own, and in 1929, Berenice Abbott moved back to New York and began producing a photo project, Changing New York, hired by the Federal Art Project to complete the documentary. The photographer captured a segment about black life and the community arts in Harlem, New York in her body of work.

Berenice Abbott’s work focused mainly on urban architecture; she produced 305 images for the photo documentary project. Her methodology regarding the project included it being a sociological study embedded within the modernist aesthetic process. The artist wanted to capture three things in her photos: the diverse people of the city, the places they lived, worked, and played and daily activities. Her images of Harlem, New York take the audience on an intricate journey depicting African American life during the Great Depression and as a community of artistic dwellers. The Harlem Community Arts Center was a federally funded community center, sponsored by the Federal Arts Project (FAP), led first by Augusta Savage, and Gwendolyn Bennett assumed the role afterward.

The idea to start the Harlem Community Art Center formed amongst African American group members of the Harlem Arts Guild. Their mission was to provide a community space free to all, making art instruction accessible - art central to the community. From 1937-1942 the community arts center collaborated with the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library on community workshops and with the Harlem YMCA, where they offered free art classes. Artists who taught or studied at the center include Charles Alston, Henry Bannarn, Romare Bearden, Selma Burke, Ernest Crichlow, Aaron Douglas, Elton Fax, Sargent Johnson, William Henry Johnson, Langston Hughes, Ronald Joseph, Robert Blackburn, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, and Claude McKay. According to Wikipedia, “The Harlem Community Art Center had a multiethnic faculty and a diverse student population was also diverse. Students ranged from established Harlem artists to children from New York psychiatric hospitals who benefitted from creative activities.”

Each photo taken by Berenice Abbott regarding the cultural arts renaissance at the center features a young student working in his or her medium in that moment. All of her images show strong contrasts and dramatic angles.

The Photography of Berenice Abbott, The Harlem Community Art Center, Changing New York is an impressive body of work that provides the audience with an opportunity to go back in time and view young artists in training during a major African American cultural arts movement. In addition, the photographer went to the streets of Harlem, where she captured photos about African American life on an average day. There are enough images and archival materials to keep art enthusiasts, photographers, and the like engaged for days.

Highlights of the exhibition include, an exclusive cumulative report entitled, The Harlem Community Art Center, by Gwendolyn Bennett, Director from 1938-1941, of the Harlem Community Art Center.

A bonus of the show, download a vintage Harlem Community Art Center (FAP) poster - free without restrictions.

This exhibition is organized by The Arts At Page Library and supported by the New York Public Library Domain.

Exhibition Details

View Online: December 19, 2016, thru January 30, 2017

Access Exhibition: 

http://theartsatpagelibrary.omeka.net/exhibits/show/the-photography-of-berenice-ab

About The Arts At Page Library

Founded in August 2016, The Arts At Page Library is a library arts program and space, located at Inman E. Page Library, Lincoln University Missouri. The art program was designed to expose students, faculty and the community to cultural artistry at a Historical Black College University Library.

Through the leadership of the Arts Library Coordinator, the Advisory Arts Committee, and Student Docents, The Arts At Page Library is a premier space that provides creative educational programming, physical and online exhibitions, and access to an African American art book collection, library art tours and a university academic library for research and lecture series.

###

For more images and more information, contact:

kYmberly Keeton, Arts Library Coordinator, 573-681-5513, theartsatpagelibrary@gmail.com

The Arts At Page Library acknowledges the generous support of its Arts and Culture Advisory Board and the Lincoln University Missouri Administration

Credits

Exhibition Curated by kYmberly Keeton, M.L.S., | Artwork Credit: From The New York Public Library Public Domain.