return to artnet.com
 search artnet
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz Home Artists Exhibitions Art Fairs Inventory Publications Gallery Info

Ilse Bing    (German/American, 1899-1998)

 Ilse Bing - Dead Leaf And Tramway Ticket On Sidewalk, Frankfurt (Photographs) h: 17.1 x w: 22.9 cm / h: 6.7 x w: 9 in
Ilse Bing
Dead Leaf And Tramway Ticket On Sidewalk, Frankfurt 1929
 
 Ilse Bing - Flowers (Ostern) (Photographs) h: 11.4 x w: 7.9 cm / h: 4.5 x w: 3.1 in
Ilse Bing
Flowers (Ostern) 1928
 
 Ilse Bing - Gallery, Frankfurt (Photographs) h: 18.4 x w: 13.3 cm / h: 7.2 x w: 5.2 in
Ilse Bing
Gallery, Frankfurt 1929
 
 Ilse Bing - Man Carrying Door, Frankfurt (Photographs) h: 11.4 x w: 16.5 cm / h: 4.5 x w: 6.5 in
Ilse Bing
Man Carrying Door, Frankfurt 1929
 
 Ilse Bing - Newspaper Stand, Frankfurt (Photographs) h: 14 x w: 19.1 cm / h: 5.5 x w: 7.5 in
Ilse Bing
Newspaper Stand, Frankfurt 1929
 
 Ilse Bing - Rooftops, Frankfurt (Die Dächer) (Photographs) h: 14 x w: 19.1 cm / h: 5.5 x w: 7.5 in
Ilse Bing
Rooftops, Frankfurt (Die Dächer) 1929
 

Biography
1899 Born in Frankfurt to affluent bourgeois family.
1920 Enrolls in the University of Frankfurt to study mathematics and physics but soon changes to art history eventually pursuing a doctoral degree.
1928 To illustrate her dissertation on an architect, she takes up photography and begins using a 9x12c, Voigtlander plate camera. She eventually abandons her dissertation to pursue a career as photographer.
1929 Purchases a Leica camera enjoying the freedom it provides
1929 - 1930 Her photographs are reproduced in photo-essays for Frankfurter Illustriete’s weekly supplement Das Illustriete Blatt.
1930 Moves to Paris in the Fall.
1932 New York gallerist Julien Levy includes Bing’s work in his seminal exhibition
1934 Experiments with solarization (which she discovered independently of Man Ray) to create a dream-like night-time atmosphere of statuaries, lights, and water.
1936 At the invitation of Carmel Snow she visits the US where she meets Alfred Stieglitz. This same year she has solo exhibitions at Galerie Chasseurs d’Images, Paris and Musée des Arts Décoratifs
1937 Marries pianist and musicologist Konrad Wolff. Her photographs are included in New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s “History of Photography” exhibition.
1930 - 1939 Her portraits, fashion and architectural studies are published in VU, Harper’s Bazaar, Le Monde, L’Illustration, Illustré, and Regards. Her work is included in the Groupe Annuel des Photographes at La Pleiade in 1931, 1932, 1933, and 1938 alongside that of Germaine Krull, André Kertesz, Florence Henri, Emmanuel Sougez, Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson. Despite this she does not communicate or work closely with other photographers.
1940 She and her husband are interned in Paris as enemy aliens and in 1941 they immigrate to New York.
1947 Starts using electronic flash and larger format Rollei camera.
1957 Begins working exclusively in color until stopping completely in 1959.
1959 Quits photography and devotes herself to poetry which she composes in English, French, and German. Makes collages and drawings which incorporate photographic elements
1998 Dies in New York

Exhibitions
2007 “Paris in Transition: Photographs from the National Gallery”, National Gallery, Washington, DC - USA
2005 “Town and Country: Modern Life in America” Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, MA- USA
2004 - 2005 “Ilse Bing: Queen of Leica” Victoria & Albert Museum, London- UK (solo)
2004 “French Photography of the1930s and 1940s”, Zabriskie Gallery, NY – USA
“My America: Art from the Jewish Museum Collection, 1900- 1955” Jewish Museum, New York, NY – USA. Traveled: Memorial Art Museum, Rochester University, Rochester, NY- USA
1999 “Insight: Women’s Photographs From the Collection of the George Eastman House”, Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, NY - USA
1998 “ilse Bing”, Edwynn Houk, New York, NY – USA (solo)
1996 “History of Women Photographers” New York Public Library, NY – USA
“Ilse Bing-Fotografien 1929-1956” Suermondt-Ludwig Museum, Aachen- Germany (solo)
1994 “Ilse Bing: Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1931”, Houk Friedman, NY _ USA (solo)
“Ilse Bing: Vintage Photographs”, Galerie Zur Stockeregg, Zurich, Switzerland (solo)
1992 “Ilse Bing: Frankfurt, Paris, New York”, Houk Friedman, NY – USA (solo)
1989 “The New Vision: Photography Between the World Wars, Ford Motor Company Collection”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY - USA
“Ilse Bing: Germany, Paris, New York”, Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago, IL- USA (solo)

Literature
Ilse Bing: Through the Looking Glass. Larisa Dryansky. Photographs edited by Edwynn Houk: Abrams, New York, 2006
Photographers Encyclopedia International, 1839 to the present, A-K. Michele and Michel Auer. Editions Camera Obscura: Hermance, Switzerland, 1985
Ilse Bing: Three Decades of Photography. Nancy C. Barrett. New Orleans Museum of Art. 1985
Ilse Bing: Vision of a Century. Edwynn Houk Gallery: New York, NY, 1998
Ilse Bing: Paris 1931-1952. Françoise Reynaud, Bernard de Montgolfier. 1987. Paris Musées, Muse Carnalvalet.
©2007 artnet - The art world online. All rights reserved. artnet is a registered trademark of artnet Worldwide Corporation, New York, NY.