Ruth Bernhard: Between Art and Life

by Margaretta Mitchell and Ruth Bernhard

Hailed by Ansel Adams as "the greatest photographer of the nude," Ruth Bernhard is an icon in the photographic world. As told by Ruth in countless conversations with close friend and biographer... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811821919
• ISBN13: 9780811821919
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 10.1" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Very insightful

I bought this book sight unseen because I wanted to see Ms. Bernhard's photography. When I saw that the book was really her biography with some pictures reproduced mainly in small format, I was a bit disappointed. But reading about her life and about her thoughts on the art, changed me as a person and gave me a lot to think about. I think that I know better now what do I want from my work as a photographer. Highly recommended!

Memoir of an Unwanted Child Who Became a Great Artist

I am a great admirer of Ruth Bernhard's work. Her photographic books often refer to her father's lack of sympathy for her, but it was shocking to realize how poorly both of her parents treated her. As a result, it was incredibly heart-warming to realize that she had forgiven both of them. The book goes on to detail a woman who mostly raised herself and became an outstanding contributor both as an artist and as a teacher. The book contains many photographs of Ms. Bernhard, her family, and her work. The memoir is a perfect complement to her books of photographic images such as the remarkable, The Eternal Body.This book is based on recorded conversations between Ms. Margaretta Mitchell (no relation) and Ms. Bernhard when Ms. Bernhard was well past 90. So the main outlines of her life are there, but many of the details are fuzzy.Ms. Bernhard's parents were divorced when she was two. She could not remember seeing her mother until she was nine. Closer to her father, he too was distant. "Really, he didn't like children at all." On the other hand, her father, "Lucian Bernhard was the most important person in my life until I met Edward Weston." Through most of her life, she "wanted to be her father, the artist." Lucian Bernhard was a graphic artist who later expanded into painting and sculpture. He was known as the "father of the German poster." He was exceptionally precise and punctilious in all aspects of his life. Both of his marriages seem to have been severely troubled, and he seemed emotionally barren. Financially, he was supportive of his daughter, even though he was a disaster in failing to provide a shoulder to lean on.Both of her parents remarried, but those new marriages produced siblings and step-parents who made things more difficult for Ms. Bernhard. She could really relate to all of those fairy tales about evil step-mothers. One of the saddest moments in the book comes when she recounts how her mother passed up a chance to see her one last time in order to tend to her dogs instead. As a result of seeing these marriages, "I never considered marriage for myself." She did have loving relations with both men and women that provided her an emotional foundation that childhood did not. The book also recounts how she took photographs of nude models for her father's illustrations and posed nude for one of her first lovers. These experiences gave her a special sense of the model's perspective in nudes that made her work surpass everyone else. Ansel Adams called her "the greatest photographer of the nude." More details about her relationship with Edward Weston are provided here than I have seen elsewhere, including some correspondence published for the first time. "When I first saw Weston's work, I burst into tears." This was the first time that the potential of photography to become art became clear to her.Although she admired his work and had a terrific relationship with him, it was flirtation rather than indescretion.

Icon of the nude

Ruth Bernhard Between Art & Life is a perfect compliment to The Eternal Body. This new book gives the reader a very intimate glimpse of Ruth Bernhard's personal development and artistic development. Her ability to see light and natural forms and to express her vision as a master photographer stems from her very lonely early years as a child. Her father Lucian Bernhard, a renowned artist and type designer denied her love and recognition, had poor, egocentric relationships with women, yet encouraged her free thinking and artistic expression. It is ironic, and a tribute, that Ruth Bernhard found her identity, forgave her father, and expressed her sense of natural, eternal beauty through photography. The book contains most of the images in The Eternal Body with stories about their creation and the the models. The text explains the photographs are a result of intuition, and does not delve into technical aspects.This is a beautiful venture by Ruth Bernhard and Margaretta Mitchell. I collect fine art photography and related books and feel this is the most revealing book about a master photographer in my collection. You will be pleased.