The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 15, 2026

A vertically oriented black-and-white photograph depicts a mannequin head atop a rectangular block, wearing a textured crocheted hat. The face features downcast painted eyes and small dark rectangles scattered across the surface. Below, a pair of light-colored, stitched gloves lies crossed in an X shape on a dark, fringed mesh square. Strong contrast and deep shadows emphasize the vertical composition, highlighting the grid-like patterns on the face and mesh.

Hat and Gloves

1932, printed 1985

ringl + pit

(German)

Ellen Auerbach

(American, 1906–2004)
Germany
gelatin silver print
Image: 33.7 x 22 cm (13 1/4 x 8 11/16 in.); Mounted: 48 x 38 cm (18 7/8 x 14 15/16 in.)
Gift of Galerie Julian Sander, Cologne, in memory of Gerd Sander 2024.23.14
© ringl+pit
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Properly dressed women who went out in the 1930s had a hat and gloves.

Description

Instead of showing us a woman wearing these accessories engaging in some exciting or elegant activity, Ellen Auerbach shows them as they might be displayed in a store. Auerbach and Grete Stern, her business partner in the photo studio ringl + pit, declined to engage in the artifice of “lifestyle advertising,” where products suggest that the lifestyle pictured comes with the purchase.
  • {{cite web|title=Hat and Gloves|url=false|author=ringl + pit, Ellen Auerbach|year=1932, printed 1985|access-date=15 June 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.23.14