Artwork Page for Self-Portrait with Mirrors

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Self-Portrait with Mirrors

1931 (printed 1980s)

Ilse Bing

(American, 1899–1998)
Culture
America
Medium
gelatin silver print
Measurements
Image: 26.7 x 30.5 cm (10 1/2 x 12 in.)
Credit Line
The A. W. Ellenberger, Sr., Endowment Fund 2019.177
Copyright
© Estate of Ilse Bing
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

This playful yet profound self-portrait is the artist’s signature image.

Description

Ilse Bing’s penetrating gaze is directed both at her self-image and at the viewer. The artist set up two mirrors that simultaneously provide profile and frontal views of her face. Neither is a photograph of the artist, merely of her reflection. Photography, this riveting image suggests, is a medium of illusion as well as reportage.
A horizontally oriented black-and-white photograph depicts Ilse Bing, a woman with a light skin tone looking through a camera on our right side of the photograph. She is shown a second time on the left, the side of her face reflected in a rectangular mirror with a curtain halfway down the wall in the background. She leans a dark-sleeved elbow on a table, and her head against her hand.

Self-Portrait with Mirrors

1931 (printed 1980s)

Ilse Bing

(American, 1899–1998)
America

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