The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Black-and-white photograph of 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. Bing 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
gelatin silver print
Image: 26.7 x 30.5 cm (10 1/2 x 12 in.)
The A. W. Ellenberger, Sr., Endowment Fund 2019.177
© Estate of Ilse Bing
Location: Not on view

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.
  • Estate of the Artist
    Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg, Scarsdale, NY
    September 3, 2019
    the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • "In Perspective: Leica queen." Art & Antiques 43, no. 3 (March 2020): 30. Reproduced: p. 30; Mention: p. 30
  • Ilse Bing: Queen of the Leica. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 6-October 11, 2020).
  • {{cite web|title=Self-Portrait with Mirrors|url=false|author=Ilse Bing|year=1931 (printed 1980s)|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.177