Collection Online as of December 4, 2023
New York at Night
Ilse Bing
(American, 1899–1998)
Gelatin silver print
Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2012.393
© Estate of Ilse Bing
Location
not on view
Description
In 1936 one of Ilse Bing’s patrons arranged for her to spend almost two months in New York City. In this daytime view of Manhattan’s skyscrapers shot from an elevated train platform, a self-portrait is hidden in the glass cover of the coin-operated scale. Bing also photographed the skyline by night, declaring the city’s lighting “phosphorescent.” The scale of the metropolis made her feel, she recalled, like “an atom wandering in the universe.” Bing and her work were enthusiastically received there. She had a solo exhibition of her photographs and met with magazine officials at Fortune, Time, and Life, which was then still in the conceptual stages. Despite possible employment, she returned to Paris to be with her fiancé, pianist and musicologist Konrad Wolff.
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.