CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 12/10/2016

Berenice Abbott: Paris Portraits

Featured portrait, of Princess Eugène Murat (1930), is reproduced from Berenice Abbott: Paris Portraits 1925–1930, one of our Top 10 Holiday Gift Books for Photography Lovers, 2016. Murat was known for throwing glamorous, unrestrained parties where twentieth-century giants like Jean Cocteau and Igor Stravinsky rubbed shoulders. Also known for a sometimes-mean temperament, she had a legendary fondness for narcotics. "This is a strong woman; a strong portrait taken in New York in 1930," Abbott writes. "She was responsible for introducing me to Harlem and the dancing at the Savoy. She was simply smoking a cigarette when I took this; there was another negative but it has been lost. I should have taken more of her. She was a good subject and I don't know why I didn't, except that I rarely went back to photograph the same people again." This book must be seen to be appreciated. It is truly exquisite.