Auerbach’s work, along with that of Stern’s,
focused on the object almost as a sculptural study,
concentrating on the essential, revealing her affilia-
tion to Walter Peterhans, with whom she studied
privately, and the tenets of the Bauhaus. Auerbach,
however, displayed a particular sensitivity to nature
and children and conveys what she calls poetically
‘‘The third eye’’: ‘‘In my photographic work, I have
not only endeavored to record what one sees on the
surface, but also to capture the essence that lies
beneath the surface of things.’’
Auerbach studied sculpture at the Badische
Landeskunstschule from 1924–1927 and continued
her studies at the Academy of Art (Am Weissen-
hof) in Stuttgart. Her uncle gave Auerbach her first
camera (912 cm) in gratitude for the bust she
had made of him. The new artistic possibilities and
also a newly found financial independence led
Auerbach to discontinue her study of sculpture
and take up the study of photography.
In 1929, together with Grete Stern she took
classes in photography as a private pupil with Wal-
ter Peterhans in Berlin and, aside from these
classes, Auerbach was self-taught, although be-
cause of her association with Peterhans she is
often considered as Bauhaus-trained. Even though
the German capital in the 1920s was one of the
most interesting places for artists, Auerbach and
Stern appeared to have remained isolated from the
various photographic circles. Stern had a short
contact with the photographer Otto Umbehr, an
acquaintance of her brother who advised her to
study with Peterhans.
When Peterhans closed his studio to join the
Bauhaus staff in Dessau in 1929, Auerbach and
Stern acquired it with a small inheritance that
Stern had received. They then opened ‘‘foto ringl
- pit’’ (a moniker derived from Grete’s childhood
nickname, and the dancer Pepita Pit, whom Auer-
bach resembled), the first women-run advertising
photo studio in Berlin. The studio specialized in
portraiture, still life, advertising photography, and
magazine illustration (1931–1933). The studio pro-
duced clear and precise images in the spirit of the
Neue Sehenor new photography that was typical
of Berlin photographers of the era. Their work
was also notable for its imaginative usage of sur-
realist motifs and critical humor. Although photo-
graphs by ringl + pit appeared in periodicals such
asGebrauchsgraphik(Commercial Art) andCah-
iers d’art, as well as Neue Frauenkleidung und
Frauenkultur (New Women’s Clothing and Wo-
men’s Culture), and the firm’s advertising clients
ranged from manufacturers of hair lotion and
cigarettes to distributors of petroleum products,
Auerbach and Stern could not make a living with
their studio work.
Aside from her commercial efforts, most of
Auerbach’s photos from this time were the result
of a creative interplay with Grete Stern. Their stu-
dio was not only a place of work, but also a space
of vivid exchange and friendship. To this Auerbach
brought sculptural sensibility and Stern brought
her graphic design know-how; both photographers
signed the works with the studio’s name, making it
difficult to distinguish authorship. This concentra-
tion on the world of objects differed from the con-
temporary use of the camera as a means to explore
urban reality, represented by other photographers
of the late Weimar Republic such as Lotte Jacobi
and Marianne Breslauer. The ringl + pit studio
time allowed Stern and Auerbach to take initiatives
and to experiment with various techniques, includ-
ing montage. They developed alternative represen-
tations of women in advertisement, for instance,
their famous imageKomol, and engaged in a play-
ful confusion between ‘‘living model and manikin’’
(e.g.,Petrole Hahn: the manikin is dressed in an
old-fashioned nightgown, while a human hand
holds the product).
In 1933 the studio ringl + pit gained interna-
tional recognition as the two photographers re-
ceived first prize from the Deuxie`me Exposition
Internationale de la Photographie et du Cine ́ma
in Brussels for its advertising photographKomol,
taken to advertise a hair lotion of the same name.
But the incipient careers of Auerbach and Stern
were soon stymied by Adolph Hitler’s rise to
power as chancellor in 1933. Her future husband,
Walter Auerbach, an active communist, advised
the two women of Jewish origin and with left-
wing ties to leave Germany permanently.
As Auerbach could not provide the proof of
financial independence necessary for emigrating to
England as Grete Stern did, at the end of 1933 she
emigrated with Walter Auerbach to Tel Aviv,
Palestine. She found work with the Jewish National
Fund (KKL) and the Women’s International Zio-
nist Organization (WIZO), but commissions aimed
at promoting a Jewish state in Palestine were far
from the photographer’s interests.
Together with her friend Liselotte Grschebina
and Walter Auerbach, she opened the children’s
portrait studio ‘‘Ishon,’’ or eyeball. Her work in
Palestine was radically different than her work
done in Berlin. While the ringl + pit pictures
could for the most part be considered studio
work, which focused on representations of iden-
tities, with her emigration such criteria took on a
secondary importance. The photographer becameAUERBACH, ELLEN