Ilse Bing
American, born Germany, 1899–1998
Three Men Sitting on Steps at the Seine, Paris
INV-9398
Ilse Bing
American, born Germany, 1899–19981931
Three Men Sitting on Steps at the Seine, Paris
Ilse Bing American, born Germany, 1899–1998 →avant-gardegelatin silver (developing-out-paper) prphotographic process
Date
1931
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
22.2 × 28.2 cm (8 3/4 × 11 1/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Julien Levy Collection, Gift of Jean and Julien Levy
A former doctoral student of art history in her native Frankfurt, Ilse Bing learned to photograph on her own and established herself as a leading photographer in Paris in the 1930s, contributing fashion, architecture, and social documentary images to emerging French picture magazines. Bing’s facility with a small, handheld camera eventually earned her the title Queen of the Leica, and she documented Parisian streets and inhabitants with furtive speed and at unexpected angles. The noted New York dealer Julien Levy introduced Bing’s work, including several views of Paris (possibly including this one), to an American audience in his landmark 1932 exhibition, Modern European Photography: Twenty Photographers. Here the skewed viewpoint and cropping change the scene from an urban idyll to a more dynamic slice of the city.
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