Collection Online as of March 29, 2023
Reichenau
Ilse Bing
(American, 1899–1998)
Gelatin silver print
Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2011.230
© Estate of Ilse Bing
Location
not on view
Description
Reichenau and Überlingen are towns on the German side of Lake Constance. Ilse Bing was writing a doctoral dissertation on an 18th-century architect and began to take photography seriously in order to provide illustrations for it. She shot these pictures and the one on the left during a fateful departmental outing. On that trip, Bing saw for the first time a painting by Vincent van Gogh and instantly decided to abandon art history and become an artist—but not a painter. “I didn’t choose photography; it chose me,” she said. “It was the trend of the time. . . . And the camera, that was, in a way, the beginning of the mechanical device penetrating into the field of art.”
Ilse Bing
Ilse Bing (American, b. Germany, 1899-1998). Ilse Bing became interested in photography while pursuing a doctoral degree in art history at Frankfurt University. Around 1927-28 she began taking photographs to illustrate her dissertation and in 1930 decided to move to Paris to look for freelance assignments. Using the new 35mm Leica camera, she worked as a fashion, portrait, and architectural photographer, as well as a photojournalist. During her years in Paris she took part in numerous exhibitions, including the Museum of Modern Art's Photography 1839-1937 show in New York. In 1941 Bing and her husband immigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. In New York she began to work on a different scale, using the larger-format Rolleiflex camera as well as electronic flash. By 1957 she was working exclusively in color. Two years later Bing gave up photography to concentrate on painting and poetry.