Oliver Street, Numbers 13 1/2 - 29, Manhattan 1937

Berenice Abbott made this photograph, Oliver Street, Numbers 13 1/2 - 29, Manhattan, sometime in the mid-twentieth century. It's a black and white print, probably made with a large format camera, a real record of the street. I imagine Abbott setting up her camera, maybe early in the morning, waiting for the light to be just right to capture these buildings in the Financial District. It’s such a dense image, full of architectural detail, the texture of brick and stone, and the play of light and shadow across the facades. I find myself drawn to the linear repetition of the row houses, offset by the fire escapes and the shadows which are cast diagonally across the scene. There's a real push-pull between the formal structure and the human element, the buildings with the traces of life lived within. You notice it in the small details—the signs in the windows, the cars parked on the street. It reminds me of other photographers of the period, like Eugène Atget, who was documenting the changing urban landscape of Paris around the turn of the century. Artists are always in conversation with one another, across time and place.