Portland Museum of Art
Portland, Maine
1-207-775-6148 or 1-800-639-4067
http://www.portlandmuseum.org
North and South: Berenice Abbott's U.S. Route I
During the summer of 1954, photographer Berenice Abbott (1898-1991)
set off with two companions to tour the expanse of Route 1. The group left
from New York City and drove south to Key West, Florida. There, they turned
around retracing their route until they reached the last 
northerly
point; Fort Kent, Maine. During this excursion Abbott took more than 2,400
negatives. She devoted the next two years developing prints and a prospectus
illustrating the historical importance of the project. Her goal was to capture
the character of the time in the ever transient face of America. "North
and South: Berenice Abbott's U.S. Route I" will be on view from September
21, 2000 through December 3, 2000 at the Portland Museum of Art.
(left: Roadsign, Route 1, Maine, 1954, vintage gelatin silver print,
8 x 10 inches, Syracuse University Art Collection, 1981.2643; right:
Untitled, boy and bicycle, 1954, vintage gelatin silver print, 8 x 10
inches, Syracuse University Art Collection,)
"What
is interesting about this show is that it is a complete body of work in
a concentrated time," said Aprile Gallant, Curator of Prints, Drawing,
& Photographs. "Abbott works to preserve sites that are specifically
1954, rather than documenting the progression of years. Abbott's goal was
for people to remember and see it as it was." Typically, Berenice Abbott
has taken years to journal Paris and New York City; in contrast the Route
1 documentation allowed her only one moment of one summer with her selected
subject matter. (left: Virginia,1954, vintage gelatin silver
print, 8 x 10 inches, Syracuse University Art Collection, 1981.2661)
"North
and South: Berenice Abbott's U.S. Route I" captures a variety of subject
matter, from the ferris wheels that spotted the landscape to the people
who inhabited it. She wanted to capture what was familiar, the things that
are overlooked until they are gone. Abbott's 
portraits of Maine potato farmers and Georgia peach
pickers caught the flavor of everyday life. Cruising along the coast Abbott
documented the individual cities and towns. These images demonstrate a fondness
of detail with which she defined the character of the area. (left:
Milikin's General Store on Sunday Morning, Bridgewater, Maine, 1954,
vintage gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 inches, Syracuse University Art Collection,
1981.2210; right: Melbourne, Florida, 1954, vintage gelatin silver
print, 8 x 10 inches, Syracuse University Art Collection, 1981.2351)
After her summer touring the east coast, Abbott rarely
mentioned the Route 1 photographs. The public focused on her New York work
and her scientific photographs. Abbott saw her role as a photographer to
be centered around capturing whatever she was photographing as it was at
that moment; the Route 1 pictures are exactly that, a chronicle of the summer
of 1954 on Route 1.
She
showed the people and the places just as they were, without embellishment
or editorializing. She once said in an interview, "In broad terms the
work I have done here is really the American scene, which I think is important
to photograph because the United States is such a changing country and is
still young. Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed
the subject becomes part of the past." (left: Untitled, parking
meters, Augusta, Georgia, 1954, vintage gelatin silver print, 8 x 10
inches, Syracuse University Art Collection)
Editor's note: Resource Library readers may also
enjoy:
Links to sources of information outside of our web site
are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use
due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and
all other web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or
out of date. TFAO neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations.
Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility
for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts
any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating
web pages see TFAO's General Resources
section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.
Individual pages in this catalogue will be amended as TFAO adds content,
corrects errors and reorganizes sections for improved readability. Refreshing
or reloading pages enables readers to view the latest updates.
rev. 1/11/06
Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional
source by visiting the sub-index page for the Portland
Museum of Art in Resource Library.
Visit the Table
of Contents for Resource Library for thousands
of articles and essays on American art, calendars, and much more.
© Copyright 2006 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights
reserved.
During the summer of 1954, photographer Berenice Abbott (1898-1991)
set off with two companions to tour the expanse of Route 1. The group left
from New York City and drove south to Key West, Florida. There, they turned
around retracing their route until they reached the last 
northerly
point; Fort Kent, Maine. During this excursion Abbott took more than 2,400
negatives. She devoted the next two years developing prints and a prospectus
illustrating the historical importance of the project. Her goal was to capture
the character of the time in the ever transient face of America. "North
and South: Berenice Abbott's U.S. Route I" will be on view from September
21, 2000 through December 3, 2000 at the Portland Museum of Art.
(left: Roadsign, Route 1, Maine, 1954, vintage gelatin silver print,
8 x 10 inches, Syracuse University Art Collection, 1981.2643; right:
Untitled, boy and bicycle, 1954, vintage gelatin silver print, 8 x 10
inches, Syracuse University Art Collection,)
