Terms and conditions of use
Self-portrait
(Autoportrait)
1931; printed 1993
Medium
gelatin silver photograph
Measurements
26.7 × 29.4 cm (image) 27.9 × 35.3 cm (sheet)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Bowness Family Fund for Photography, 2023
© Ilse Bing Estate
Gallery location
Special Exhibitions Gallery
Ground Level, NGV International
About this work
Ilse Bing began making photographs in the late 1920s, when she purchased one of the first 35 mm cameras produced by the German company Leica. She made use of the camera’s portability, capturing motion, dizzying angles and contrasts of light, shade and shadow – compositional elements that characterised the New Photography movement. Inspired by Florence Henri, Bing used her camera to disrupt the picture plane. In this famed self-portrait, Bing uses mirrors as a fracturing tool. The self-portrait shows Bing’s reflection holding a camera, accompanied by her side profile in another angled mirror. She controls the various gazes: her own, the viewer’s, the camera’s.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Paris, France
Inscription
inscribed in negative (in image) u.l.: ILSE / BING / 1931
inscribed in pencil on reverse c.: ILSE / BING / 1931
inscribed in pencil on reverse c.: 93
Accession Number
2023.588
Department
International Photography