Presented here is a striking portrait by Ilse Bing (1899-1998), a German-born photographer known for her early mastery of the lightweight 35-mm Leica camera and for her intricately composed street photographs and self-portraits. Bing’s work is found in public collections around the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
This portrait dates from 1933 when Bing lived in Paris and worked alongside contemporaries such as André Kértesz, Brassaï, and Man Ray. Her work was included in the seminal 1937 exhibition Photography 1839–1937 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, following an inclusion the previous year in the Louvre's first modern photography exhibition.
The gelatin silver print measures 11"x8.75" (28x22cm) with a mat measuring 20"x16" (51x40.5cm). The photograph is signed by hand ‘IB/33’ on top right and includes a backstamp: ILSE BING/PARIS/1933.