The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of November 2, 2026

A vertically oriented black-and-white photograph closely crops around a man with light skin tone and a bald head. Facing our right, his gaze is lowered behind thin-rimmed circular glasses. A blurred reflection showing the back of his head appears to our left. He wears a dark, speckled shirt, and light catches the smooth surface of his scalp and bridge of his nose against a darkened background.

Bald Head

1930, printed 1985

ringl + pit

(German)

Grete Stern

(German, 1904–1999)
Germany
gelatin silver print
Image: 15.1 x 16.3 cm (5 15/16 x 6 7/16 in.); Mounted: 48.1 x 38.1 cm (18 15/16 x 15 in.)
Gift of Galerie Julian Sander, Cologne, in memory of Gerd Sander 2024.23.8
© ringl+pit
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

A bald young man was a bit of a punk style statement in 1930s Germany, as shaved heads were associated with convicts and military conscripts.

Description

This bald man was Heinrich Clasing (German, 1911–1989), an art student at the Bauhaus. He studied photography with Walter Peterhans, who had taught Grete Stern and Ellen Auerbach, and advertising. This extreme-close up by Grete Stern is as radical as the hairstyle portrayed in it. She stood her subject up against a mirror so that the back of his head becomes an image within an image.
  • {{cite web|title=Bald Head|url=false|author=ringl + pit, Grete Stern|year=1930, printed 1985|access-date=02 November 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.23.8