Erich Comeriner, Fritz Eschen, and Umbo (Otto
Umbehr). The great portrait photographers such
as Lotte Jacobi, who photographed those involved
in the arts and sciences before escaping to the Uni-
ted States, or August Sander, the recorder of a va-
riety of levels of society, are represented here.
Experiments in advertising photography such as
that of Fritz Brill or Herbert Bayer or the archives
of the popular magazineVolk und Weltare to be
found in the collection.
From 1955 to 1965 Berlin was an important fash-
ion center. Photographs by the Hamburger, F.C.
Gundlach present an atmosphere of a city trying to
rise out of the ashes of World War II. Michael
Schmidt, the founder of the Berlin Werkstatt fu ̈r
Photographie (Photographic Workshop) fostering
emerging photographers is represented by his early
work such as hisKreuzberg andWeddingseries
(1978 and 1980), and from the exhibitWaffenruhe
(cease-fire).
In 1990 the East-Berlin collection of the photo-
graphic history of East Germany was obtained by
the Berlinische Galerie. This collection includes ap-
proximately 1,500 images by seventy photogra-
phers, including work by Sibylle Bergemann, Arno
Fischer, Thomas Florschuetz, Helga Paris, Evelyn
Richter, and Ulrich Wu ̈st.
The Berlinische Galerie continues to collect in a
variety of areas. Its photography is probably one of
the strongest aspects of its collections. With its new
building, its future appears to promise increased
acquisitions, exhibitions, and study areas for Berli-
ners and the world at large, fulfilling much of the
vision of its 1975 founders.KATHERINEHoffman
Seealso:Dada; Hajek-Halke, Heinz; Ho ̈ch, Han-
nah; Jacobi, Lotte; Lissitzky, El; Museums: Europe;
Photography in Europe: Germany and Austria;
Schmidt, Michael; Umbo (Umbehr, Otto)Further Reading
Dawson, Barbara.Berlin!: The Berlinische Galerie Art Col-
lection Visits Dublin 1991. Berlin: Berlinische Galerie,
1991.
Heinrich Zille.Photograph der Moderne: Verzeichnis des
Photographischen Nachlasses. Berlin: Berlinische Galerie
und Munich: Schmirmer/Mosel Verlag, 1995.
Photographie als Photographi: Zehn Jahre Photographische
Sammlung 1979–1989. Berlin: Berlinische Galerie, 1989.
Salomon, Erich.Leica Fotografie 1930–1939. Berlin: Berli-
nische Galerie, 1986.
Situation Berlin—Fotografien-Photographs 1953–1960. Ber-
lin: Berlinische Galerie, 2001.
Sprung in der Zeit.Bewegung und Zeit als Gestaltungsprin-
zipien in der Photographie. Berlin: Verlag Ars Nicolai,
1992.RUTH BERNHARD
German
Ruth Bernhard is known for her ‘‘radiant’’ photo-
graphs of female nudes that have been described as
‘‘hauntingly sensual but classically reserved.’’ She
is also known for her doll images and her meticu-
lous photographs of commonplace objects such as
lifesavers, an egg slicer, and a teapot, for which she
has been acknowledged as a ‘‘a master of the still
life genre,’’ by art critic Ilee Kaplan.
Born in Berlin, Bernhard was the daughter of
famed poster artist Lucian Bernhard. In 1927 she
emmigrated to New York where her father then
lived. She learned the rudiments of photography
while using an 810 view camera when she work-
ed briefly atThe Delineator, a popular woman’s
magazine. After she was fired for lack of motiva-
tion, she began to freelance as a fashion and adver-
tising photographer.
Her first published image wasLifesavers(1930).
Her still lifes are at times reminiscent of the work of
avante-garde photographers associated with the
Bauhaus school, for example Hein Gorny’s rows
of men’s collars and Grete Stern’s dolls and use of
light ‘‘as the defining element in the image.’’ Bern-
hard has said ‘‘It’s not the object that is beautiful,
its the light in which we see it.’’
In 1934 while on assignment for theMachine Art
exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New
York, she photographed her first nude. A visitingBERNHARD, RUTH