The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Two-Toned Paul Bernard Shoes against Burlap Background

Two-Toned Paul Bernard Shoes against Burlap Background

1934
(American, 1899–1998)
Image: 22.3 x 28.3 cm (8 3/4 x 11 1/8 in.); Paper: 22.3 x 28.3 cm (8 3/4 x 11 1/8 in.); Mounted: 34.8 x 41.6 cm (13 11/16 x 16 3/8 in.)
© Estate of Ilse Bing
Location: not on view

Description

Ilse Bing’s assignment from a Frankfurt newspaper to cover the couture ball in Paris led to commissions from designers and fashion magazines, including French Vogue. In November 1933 she began doing all the Paris accessory shoots for the American magazine Harper’s Bazaar. Although the Leica was associated with candid photography, she used it in the studio to create staged still lifes of shoes, jewelry, handbags, and belts, and occasionally views of shoes on a model’s feet. Accustomed to using available light, Bing had to master artificial lighting. Preferring a natural look, she avoided bright spots and deep shadows in favor of gently modeled highlights that emphasized the objects’ sculptural shapes while revealing their polished surfaces.
  • Ilse Bing: Queen of the Leica. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 7-October 11, 2020).
  • {{cite web|title=Two-Toned Paul Bernard Shoes against Burlap Background|url=false|author=Ilse Bing|year=1934|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.453