Ilse Bing: Modern Photographer
Between the late 1920s and the late 1950s, Ilse Bing (U.S., born Germany, 1899–1998) worked as an artist and commercial photographer in Germany, Paris, and New York. The self-taught photographer—widely published in European illustrated magazines—became an early pioneer of photographing with the 35 mm Leica hand-held camera, creating bold architectural compositions and touching observations of everyday life.
Later in her career, Bing took up a larger format camera (the 2¼ in. Rolleiflex) and made large-scale abstractions of ordinary objects. Today, she is recognized as a key contributor to the development of modern photography.
Image: Ilse Bing. Garden wire, 1953. Gelatin silver print. Henry Art Gallery, gift of Yuri and Zoe Gurevich, 2012.91. Copyright Estate of Ilse Bing.
