Self-Portrait with Shutter Release
1945
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
overall: 34 x 25.8 cm (13 3/8 x 10 3/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ilse Bing Wolff
Accession Number
2001.147.69
Art Historical Context
Ilse Bing’s “Self-Portrait with Shutter Release,” created in 1945, offers a quiet yet revealing glimpse into the photographer’s world. This gelatin silver print, measuring roughly 34 by 25.8 centimeters, shows the artist turning the camera on herself at a moment when photography was becoming more personal and experimental. The title itself draws attention to the shutter-release cable, a simple tool that allowed photographers to step into the frame while still controlling the exposure. The choice of medium is significant: gelatin silver prints were the standard for fine black-and-white photogr...
About the Artist
Ilse Bing
Ilse Bing, born on March 23, 1899, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, into a prosperous Jewish merchant family, grew up immersed in music and art. The daughter of Louis Bing and Johanna Elli Bing (née Katz), she pursued studies in mathematics and physics at the University of Frankfurt starting in 1920, later shifting to art history and architecture. A semester at Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Institut in...