Four gelatin silver prints, Focusing Water Waves c. 1958-1960, all signed in pencil with the artist's inkstamp on the reverse. All 10 x 8 in. or 8 x 10 in. Note: American photographer Berenice Abbott began her career as a sculptor, studying in New York before moving to Paris in 1921 where she met Duchamp, Man Ray and the group of American avant-gardes working there at the time. Abbott became Man Ray's studio assistant, changing her focus from sculpture to photography and showing her work at the Paris gallery Le Sacre du Printemps. While working in Man Ray's studio, Abbott first saw the work of French photographer Eugéne Atget. After Atget's death in 1927, Abbott, along with New York gallerist Julien Levy, bought most of Atget's negative and prints. Abbott helped to preserve Atget's archive and worked with the Julien Levy Gallery to promote and sell the phoographs. Abbott printed twenty images from original negatives and published the portfolio 20 Photographs by Eugéne Atget. Throughout her own career, Abbott pursued the documentary style of photography that she admired in the work of Atget. Property of Wilkes University, Sold to Establish an Art Endowment.