TORONTO, March 4, 2015 /CNW/ - In conjunction with International Women's Day, the Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) celebrates the landmark acquisition of the Berenice Abbott Archive. Abbott, the pioneering artist best known for her extensive and iconic documentation of New York City, is among the most important photographers of the 20th century.
Donated by a generous circle of benefactors who wish to remain anonymous, the Abbott Archive includes photographs, original negatives, and working materials representing the entire arc of her six-decade career. It joins and greatly enriches the RIC's holdings, which already include the Black Star Collection of photo-reportage and other individual artist's archives, along with photography surveying the history of the medium.
The largest and most comprehensive collection anywhere of the artist's work, the Abbott Archive is comprised of more than six thousand photographs and seven thousand negatives from the mid-1920s through the 1980s, as well as book maquettes, correspondence, personal journals, business records, and ephemera. Highlights include her early studio portraiture from Paris and New York (1926 and onwards); photographs from her seminal project Changing New York (1935-39); American landscapes, including her abandoned book project focusing on U.S. coastal highway Route 1; her final published series, A Portrait of Maine (1968); and a large selection of her innovative scientific photography. In addition to her own work, the archive includes Eugène Atget photographs printed by Abbott as well as original Atget negatives, reminders of her tireless work rescuing and promoting the French photographer's oeuvre.
Working in collaboration with the Jeu de Paume in Paris, the Ryerson Image Centre organized the 2012 retrospective exhibition and catalogue Berenice Abbott (1898-1991): Photographs. Recent publications by famed German publisher Steidl Verlag have also helped advance public awareness of the scope and range of Abbott's career in recent years.
"We are thrilled to add the Berenice Abbott Archive to our collection," said Paul Roth, Director of the Ryerson Image Centre. "Public and scholarly interest in Abbott's work has increased significantly in recent years, and we look forward to welcoming researchers and curators so they can shine light on her extraordinary career."
With the RIC's important acquisition, Abbott scholars will have two destinations to study her work. The MIT Museum, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, is home to many of Abbott's papers and manuscripts, project records and other documentation, and to a collection of her science photography, including work she did for MIT's Physical Science Study Committee in the late 1950s.
"The Ryerson Image Centre's new Abbott acquisition will provide the opportunity to share resources and encourage new scholarship, and we look forward to working together with them," noted Gary Van Zante, Curator of Architecture, Design and Photography at the MIT Museum.
A small group of philanthropists teamed up to purchase the Abbott Archive and bring it to Toronto and the RIC. The gift to the RIC collection further establishes the institution's burgeoning reputation as one of the leading centres worldwide for the study of photographic history.
"We are immensely grateful for the generous donation of this unique and important collection of photographic works," said Adam Kahan, Vice President, University Advancement at Ryerson University. "It adds new depth to the RIC collection, and advances Ryerson's city building enterprise by further enriching Toronto's cultural offering."
Select objects and photographs from the Berenice Abbott Archive will be displayed in a coming exhibition at the Ryerson Image Centre. The Archive will be accessible by appointment to students, scholars, and curators at the RIC's Peter Higdon Research Centre. Please direct academic and curatorial inquiries to [email protected].
About the Ryerson Image Centre
The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) exists for the research, teaching and exhibition of photography and related media. We are an active partner within the academic fabric of Ryerson University, the cultural network of greater Toronto, and the national and international artistic community. We develop rigorous yet inclusive programs for students, faculty, artists, researchers and curators, as well as the general public. The RIC boasts three interrelated areas of activity. Our exhibition program addresses topics of social, cultural, aesthetic and historical concern from a variety of contemporary perspectives. Our research centre conducts and facilitates inquiry into primary resource materials and offers workshops, lectures, symposia and publication programs. Finally, we maintain a collection of photography spanning the medium's history, as well as several artist and journalism archives—including the renowned Black Star Collection of twentieth century photoreportage. For more information, visit www.ryerson.ca/ric
About Ryerson University
Ryerson University is Canada's leader in innovative, career-oriented education and a university clearly on the move. With a mission to serve societal need, and a long-standing commitment to engaging its community, Ryerson offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs. Distinctly urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the university is home to more than 38,000 students, including 2,300 master's and PhD students, nearly 2,700 faculty and staff, and more than 155,000 alumni worldwide. Research at Ryerson is on a trajectory of success and growth: externally funded research has doubled in the past four years. The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education is Canada's leading provider of university-based adult education. For more information, visit www.ryerson.ca
SOURCE Ryerson University
Image with caption: "Berenice Abbott, Blossom Restaurant, 103 Bowery New York City, October 24, 1934, gelatin silver print. Berenice Abbott Archive, Ryerson Image Centre C, Ronald Kurtz, administered by Commerce Graphics Ltd. Inc. (CNW Group/Ryerson University)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20150304_C7939_PHOTO_EN_12814.jpg
MEDIA CONTACTS: Suelan Toye, Ryerson University, Office: 416-979-5000 x 7161, [email protected], Follow us on Twitter: @RyersonU; Erin Warner, Ryerson Image Centre, Office: 416-979-5000 x7032, [email protected], @RICGallery
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