The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 27, 2024

New York, the Elevated, and Me

New York, the Elevated, and Me

1936
(American, 1899–1998)
Image: 18.8 x 28.2 cm (7 3/8 x 11 1/8 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.)
© 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 editors 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.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 97
    "In perspective: art-world news and market updates, exhibitions and events: Leica queen." Art & antiques 43, no. 3 (March 2020): p.24-35. Reproduced: p. 30; Mention: p. 30
    Tannenbaum, Barbara. “Queen of the Leica: Ilse Bing found freedom of expression in a small, lightweight camera.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 60, no. 2 (March/April 2020): 30-31. Reproduced: P. 31; Mentioned: P. 30.
  • Ilse Bing: Queen of the Leica. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 7-October 11, 2020).
    Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (6/24/07 - 9/16/07); "Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art", no exhibition catalogue.
    Industry and Photography: Selections from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1997-March 1, 1998).
    Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; 11/16/97 - 3/1/98. "Industry and Photography: Selections from the Permanent Collection."
    The Year in Review for 1989. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-April 15, 1990).
    CMA, Feb. 6 - April 15, 1990: "Year in Review 1989," CMA Bulletin, 77 (Feb. 1990), p. 67, no. 24.
  • {{cite web|title=New York, the Elevated, and Me|url=false|author=Ilse Bing|year=1936|access-date=27 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.386