The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 24, 2024
Neu-Birnau
1929
(American, 1899–1998)
Image: 16.2 x 12.2 cm (6 3/8 x 4 13/16 in.); Paper: 17.8 x 13 cm (7 x 5 1/8 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.)
Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2011.229
© Estate of Ilse Bing
Location: not on view
Description
This entryway is part of Neu-Birnau, a small pilgrimage church built in 1745–51 on the Austrian shore of Lake Constance. The dramatic framing of the water through the door and the print’s soft focus and warm tones mimic the aesthetic of Pictorialism, a turn-of-the-20th-century photographic style that argued for the acceptance of photography as a fine art. By 1929 that style had been superseded in fine art photography circles by the modernist aesthetic, which called for sharp focus, geometric compositions, and a more neutral, gray palette.- George Stephanopoulos
- Ilse Bing: Queen of the Leica. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 7-October 11, 2020).
- {{cite web|title=Neu-Birnau|url=false|author=Ilse Bing|year=1929|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2011.229