New exhibit looks at how Boston's skyline has changed over the decades

A new exhibit at the Boston Athenaeum showcases images of Boston taken 30 years apart. Berenice Abbott photographed Boston in the 1930's, and Irene Shwachman in the 1960's. Radio Boston spoke with assistant curator Lauren Graves about the photographers. WBUR photographer Robin Lubbock joined to share his perspective on the work.

Highlights from this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.

On being a female photographer in the 1930's and the 1960's:

Graves: "Things were different. It was always questioned why a woman would be out roaming the streets alone with a camera ... she [Berenice Abbott] would have needed a car, she needed people to help her set up, all kinds of things. And there's a story when she's photographing for Changing New York, I can't remember exactly the quote, but someone says, 'this isn't a job for a nice girl,' or something like that, and she says, 'I'm not a nice girl, I'm a photographer.'

"I think both of these women saw themselves as photographers first, and had to persevere through all kinds of hardships due to their gender. Irene Schwachman worked for the Boston Redevelopment Authority for a number of years, and was fired when a new person came and took charge of her department, and said it was inappropriate for a woman to be doing this job."

On the passage of time between the two photographers' work:

Lubbock: "I  was looking at these photographs of Faneuil Hall and I was looking at them in part because I'm interested, as I'm sure anyone who comes to this exhibit will be, of what was there then and what is there now. You've got the old streets that don't exist anymore and here you've got the new buildings going up, still under construction. And yet for whatever reason, years apart, they both chose to shoot that picture in the same way.

"They took Faneuil Hall and they framed it down the street like that. So there's clearly a connection there between the two photographers. But also there's a connection between the past and the future ... change and things that are still the same.

"I actually did take a picture of Faneuil Hall In the snow once with everybody lined up covered in snow under their umbrellas and that said something about the day. It said something about Boston in winter. I think when you add people ... it brings a picture to life."

On continuing the conversation of development into today:

Graves: "We invited artists for humanity  to come to the Athenaeum and look at the two different portfolios of Boston by Abbott and Schwachman and think through what we're seeing in their approaches, think through how Boston has changed, and think of how their neighborhoods have changed, what we're missing, and then ask them to make portfolio of photographs of Boston in 2022.

"The teens were all pretty well versed in working with digital photography, but after seeing Abbott and Schwachman's work and understanding a bit more about film. They really wanted to also explore using film photography and working in the dark room to make these images to continue the literal technical conversations that we're seeing in the gallery."