Collection Online as of December 6, 2023
Ilse Bing 1931 and 1986
Abe Frajndlich
(American, b.1946)
Inkjet print
Image: 32 x 38 cm (12 5/8 x 14 15/16 in.); Paper: 40.4 x 50.6 cm (15 7/8 x 19 15/16 in.)
Gift of the Artist 2020.301
© Estate of Ilse Bing
Location
not on view
Description
In Ilse Bing’s original 1931 self-portrait, there is a paradox of time: we see a 32-year old Bing in the act of shooting the picture we view. In 1986, Abe Frajndlich had the artist, now 85 years old, pose in a similar set up and recreated her self-portrait, this time in color. In this 2012 composite version, Frajndlich digitally inserted the profile view of Bing from her 1931 self-portrait into his 1986 photograph. Since Bing’s 1931 photograph was a black-and-white image, Frajndlich translated his original from color to match it.
Abe Frajndlich
Abe Frajndlich American, b. Germany, 1946– Abraham Samuel Frajndlich (born in Frankfurt am Main) translates literary sequences and series into black-and-white and color images. Upon receiving degrees in English literature from Northwestern University (B.A., 1968; M.A., 1970), he studied with Minor White at a live-in workshop (1970-71) and with Nathan Lyons (1974-75). Frajndlich's haunting portraits of an aged White, emaciated and mystical, are perhaps his most powerful images. Since 1970 Frajndlich has worked as a freelance commercial photographer, doing editorial work for several U.S. and European publications, including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, ArtNews, London Sunday Times, and the New York Times Magazine. He has participated in many one-person and group exhibitions throughout the United States and in Germany, France, and Belgium. His books include Figments (1975), Cleveland Infra/Red (1979), Lives I've Never Lived: A Portrait of Minor White (1983), Masters of Light (1990), and Gone Beyond Gone (1993). Frajndlich lives in New York. A.W.