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New
York Changing: Revisiting Berenice Abbott's New York,
by Douglas Levere.
The titling of Berenice Abbott's
classic 1939 book Changing New York almost screams
for what Levere accomplished sixty years later, a rephotographed
update that documents the changing fabric of Manhattan and
the other boroughs. In fact Abbott attempted that very thing
in 1954 but gave up, complaining of increased traffic. While
the fifties did see Modernist skyscrapers rise across Manhattan,
it may have been too soon for change to be readily apparent.
Spending his free time from 1997-2002 documenting this change,
Levere's 81 photographs (about 25% of Abbott's orginal)
come at a time when urban change is more rapid and accepted.
Nevertheless, the comparisons between then and now are striking,
even when the changes are minmal. Using the same cameras
and lenses as Abbott, Levere overlaid a transparency of
her shot to align and frame the scene, sometimes a simple
feat but typically a difficult one when so little remains.
The photographs tend to fall into
three broad categories: landmarks, the mundane, the urban
fabric. In the first case, we see how postcard views of
early skysrapers, bridges and the like have been encroached
by buildings in the intervening years. Some areas, like
Wall Street, preserve the views to an amazing degree but
more often than not we see the cruel nature of development
and design choices. In the second case, small buildings,
storefronts, and other unexceptional architecture exhibits
the most change, being susceptible to the wrecking ball
and changing tastes and trends. And for the people that
find comfort in the lasting images of A.
Zito & Sons Bakery on Bleeker Street, it has unfortunately
closed its doors since Levere's photograph. In the third
case, these images are the most dramatic, particularly when
the photographers ascend
to the rooftops for unique vantages of the urban fabric.
Here we don't see the physical differences as much as we
start to understand the city and its organic growth and
evolution.
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