Born in Ohio and studied at Ohio State University, Abbott did not finish her education and instead moved to Greenwich Village in New York. In Greenwich Village, she began a lifelong tendency of surrounding herself with free thinkers including Hippolyte Havel, Djuna Barnes, Kenneth Burke, and Malcom Cowley. Abbot started her artistic career by experimenting in theater and sculpture with a few ventures into journalism. However, it was not until her time in Europe that her artistic reputation began to flourish.