The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 28, 2026

A vertically oriented black-and-white photograph features a wire mesh screen overlaying a surrealist composition. Across the top, three undulating hair swatches arch in varying tones of gray. Behind the grid, a pale silhouette of a head faces right. A labeled box occupies the upper left, while a small dark bottle anchors the bottom center. The mesh creates a geometric texture across the dreamlike, layered imagery.

Komol Haircoloring Advertising

1932, printed 1985

ringl + pit

(German)

Ellen Auerbach

(American, 1906–2004)

Grete Stern

(German, 1904–1999)
Germany
gelatin silver print
Image: 20.6 x 32.4 cm (8 1/8 x 12 3/4 in.); Mounted: 38 x 48.2 cm (14 15/16 x 19 in.)
Gift of Galerie Julian Sander, Cologne, in memory of Gerd Sander 2024.23.3
© ringl+pit
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Color printing did not become common in magazines until the 1940s.

Description

Challenged with advertising haircoloring in a black-and-white image, the team of ringl + pit (Grete Stern and Ellen Auerbach) cut an abstracted profile of a woman’s head out of paper, laid a screen on top of it, and on top of that, hanks of fake hair, one very light and the other dark. They used photography to convey conceptual information instead of for its ability to realistically represent the external world.
  • {{cite web|title=Komol Haircoloring Advertising|url=false|author=ringl + pit, Ellen Auerbach, Grete Stern|year=1932, printed 1985|access-date=28 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.23.3