Salon led by Rowena Kennedy-Epstein, English, The Graduate Center, CUNY.
Berenice Abbott (1898–1991) trained as a sculptor in Paris in the 1920s and published poetry in the renowned literary journal Transition before garnering international acclaim for her best known project, Changing New York (1939). Her portraits of the artists of the time include her close friend Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980), who wrote a foreword to a collection of her photography in 1970. She was an influential poet and political activist who nurtured Abbott’s progressive politics. She travelled widely as a journalist through WWII and after, writing fiction, poetry, biography and essays to chronicle the violence and injustice she saw. This salon will focus on the connections between art, feminism and political activism made (in very different ways) by these two friends.
This event was held in conjuction with the James Gallery exhibition “The Making of Americans.” For more information, click here.
