Berenice Abbott (1898–1991)

I took it through the fire escape purposely; it would have been easy to raise the camera but it seemed better through it. This part of lower Broadway is interesting simply because it is so commercial and nondescript. -- Berenice Abbott

Abbott's Changing New York project (1935-1939), funded by the Federal Art Project (a division of the Works Progress Administration) and sponsored by the Museum of the City of New York, documented Manhattan's changing cityscape and diverse citizens. This body of work remains an authoritative examination of Depression-era New York.