Ilse Bing (German/American, 1899-1998) Champ de Mars, Paris, 1931 Gelatin silver print, printed 1994 13-3/8 x 17-3/4 inches (33.9 x 45.1 cm) (image) 16 x 20 inches (sheet) Signed, titled, and dated in pencil, verso. PROVENANCE: The artist; Abe Frajndlich, acquired from the above, circa 1992. In the summer of 1986, I was assigned by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Magazine to do a portrait story about the Frankfurt-born photographer, Ilse Bing, who lived on the upper west side of Manhattan. It turned out to be a memorable session for both Ilse and me. In the thirties Ilse had become known as "the queen of the Leica" in Paris, where her work stood out favorably against the greats, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kertesz, Brassai, and...she was a woman. When the Nazis came into Paris in 1940, Ilse and her husband, Konrad Wolff, a musicologist, had to flee France and were lucky to get a sponsor to bring them to the United States. By the mid-fifties her career floundered and she was forced to groom dogs to earn a living. Not until around 1970, when she had an exhibition at the Lee Witkin Gallery, and John Szarkowski, head of the photo department at the Museum of Modern Art bought a few images for the collection, and she was effectively rediscovered, and got back on the global photo map. Because of the cover article for the FAZ Magazine that Ilse Bing liked so much, she and Konrad and my wife Cynthia and I became close friends. After a few years, Ilse asked me if I would be willing to print for her. I, of course, said, "Yes!" And for approximately five years until the mid-1990's I printed from her negatives, the prints of which by that time were being handled by the Edwin Houk Gallery on Fifth Avenue. The arrangement I had with Ilse allotted me one print for every five that I delivered to her and then on to the gallery. Over the course of the half decade that I printed for her, I felt that she had bestowed upon me the privilege of not only making the prints, but of being able to time travel, by shining an enlarger light through her negatives from the 1930's and allowing me to see through her eyes from so many years before. It was a treat and a real gift for an ever-learning photographer. HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice