friend noticed the large stainless steel bowls she was
shooting, and Bernhard asked her to pose in one of
them and she agreed. Bernhard produced a series of
these photographs, and they soon became her sig-
nature images.
Her meeting with Edward Weston in 1935 was a
turning point in her life. Inspired by his work, she
began to regard photography as art. A year later, she
set up a studio in Los Angeles and had her first solo
exhibit at bookseller Jake Zeitlin’s gallery, which
received good reviews. One image was described as
‘‘leaves [that] quiver with subtle changes of light that
we had never noticed before.’’ Her doll images were
the first photographs she took after meeting Edward
Weston. This series was made between 1936 and
1939 in Bernhard’s Hollywood studio when she
made portraits of children. She says she regards the
dolls in her photographs as children.
She returned to New York in 1939 and continued
working on commercial assignments. Two years
later, she sold some of her images of seashells at
an exhibit in Florida and produced a series of sea-
shell images that were published in a special edition
ofNatural History Magazine. The influence of Wes-
ton was still strong and can be seen if one compares
herClassic Torsoand hisNude by the Door.
Bernhard says that she later grew critical of Wes-
ton’s nudes seeing in his images ‘‘his interest in
seduction and connection,’’ while her ‘‘quest’’ was
‘‘abstraction and sculpture...I wanted to achieve and
ideal harmony...with the universal idea of the body
as a work of art. I wanted to convey innocence...the
innocence of a tiger or a cloud in the sky.’’
During World War II Bernhard joined the Wo-
men’s Land Army and spent her time at a working
farm in New Jersey. After the war, she returned to
California and continued her association with Edward
Weston, known for his many love affairs, visiting him
at his home in Carmel. She maintains that although
there was a mutual romantic attraction, she preferred
not to risk the loss of the friendship.
In 1953, she moved to San Francisco where she
eventually became part of a circle of photographers
that included Ansel Adams and Imogen Cunning-
ham. She began teaching photography in 1966 and
throughout the years has felt that her teaching ‘‘is
more important than my photos.’’ In 1970, the first
book containing her images,The Eternal Body: A
Collection of 50 Nudes, was published. Several years
later, she produced two limited edition portofolios:
The Eternal Body(1976) andThe Gifts of the Com-
monplace(1976). Both sold out quickly. During
that time, and due to inhaling fumes from a faulty
heater, she lost her ability to concentrate for long
periods of time, and has made no new negatives
since then. In spite of this limitation, Bernhard,
now in her 90s, retains herjoi de vivre.InBetween
Art and Life, she lists eight factors contributing to
long life, including ‘‘never get used to anything,’’
‘‘hold on to the child in you,’’ and ‘‘say ‘yes’ to life
with passion.’’
While Bernhard has enjoyed acclaim for the
sheer artistry of her images, on another level, her
photographs of nude women, including women of
color, and her relationships with several men, sug-
gest unexamined issues related to gender and ethnic
perspectives. The new biography by Margaretta
Mitchell is forthcoming about Bernhard’s bisexual-
ity. She considered Eveline Phimister, an artist and
designer as ‘‘the love of her life.’’ Bernhard also
maintained long relationships with Edward Wes-
ton, an older man, and with a former Tuskegee
airman, Price Rice, a younger man. In order for
Bernhard’s complex aesthetic to be better under-
stood, her work deserves critical examination on
levels hitherto ignored.YOLANDARetter
Seealso:Adams, Ansel; Cunningham, Imogen; Wes-
ton, EdwardBiography
BorninBerlin,October14,1905.EducationatTheAkademie
der Kunste, Berlin, 1926–1937. Emigrated to the United
States, 1927. Career (selective): Freelance photographer,
New York, 1927–1935; Los Angeles, 1936–1953; San
Francisco since 1953; Instructor: University of California
Extension, Berkeley and San Francisco, 1966–1975;
Columbia University, New York. Recipient: National
Urban League Award, 1961; San Francisco Art Commis-
sion, 1984; Cyril Magnin Award, San Francisco, 1994.Individual Exhibitions
1941 Little Gallery, San Francisco, California
1958 Institute for Public Relations, Mexico City, Mexico
1973 Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography, Chi-
cago, Illinois
1982 Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
1996 The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton,
New Jersey
2000 Friends of Photography, San Francisco, CaliforniaGroup Exhibitions
1968 Light 7; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts
1975 Fifty Women of Photography; San Francisco Museum
of Art, San Francisco, California
1984 Photography in California, 1945–1980; San Francisco
Museum of Art, San Francisco, California
1996 History of Women Photographers; New York Public
Library, New York, New YorkBERNHARD, RUTH