Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) The Operation of Lenses, c. 1960 Gelatin silver print; mounted, signed in pencil on the mount, the photographer's '50 Commerce Street' studio stamp on the reverse, framed. 4 x 6 3/4 in. (10.2 x 17.1 cm.) mount 10 1/4 x 10 1/8 in. (26 x 25.7 cm.) Footnotes: Provenance Harry Lunn / Lunn Limited, New York; Acquired from the above by the present owners in 1991. Literature Berenice Abbott: Documenting Science (Göttingen, 2012), p. 89; Berenice Abbott: Portraits of Modernity (Barcelona: Fundacion MAPFRE, 2019), p. 237. Note In addition to her 1930s project 'Changing New York', Berenice Abbott explored a wide range of subjects during her long career, with a particular interest in scientific photography. During the Cold War era, Abbott executed many scientific images to contribute to U.S. national interests as well as to champion reforms in scientific education. To these ends, Abbott built her own cameras that allowed her to experiment with a technique she called 'Super Sight', with which she successfully produced large-format photographs of scientific phenomena that exhibited remarkable clarity and definition. Her scientific work culminated between 1958 and 1961 when she collaborated with the Physical Sciences Study Committee (PSSC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With the goal of devising a new high school science curriculum, the PSSC recognized that Abbott's scientific imagery was critical to their agenda and understood that capturing scientific principles on film was just as important as explaining them on paper. Not only were Abbott's science photographs featured in physics textbooks in the late 1950s and '60s, but they also continue to be used today to convey concepts of modern physics and scientific methodology. Lot to be sold without reserve. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ¤ ¤ Unless indicated by the ¤ symbol next to the lot number (or bearing an explicit statement such as 'No Reserve' or 'Without Reserve'), which denotes no reserve, all lots in the catalog are subject to a reserve. The reserve is the minimum hammer price that the seller is willing to accept for a lot. This amount is confidential and does not exceed the low estimate value. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing