Ruth Bernhard

Slideshow with photos by Ruth Bernhard (October 14, 1905 – December 18, 2006).

Wikipedia reads about photographer Ruth Bernhard: “By the late-1920s, while living in Manhattan, Bernhard was heavily involved in the lesbian sub-culture of the artistic community, becoming friends with photographer Berenice Abbott and her lover, critic Elizabeth McCausland. She wrote about her “bisexual escapades” in her memoir. In 1934 Bernhard began photographing women in the nude. It would be this art form for which she would eventually become best known.

Though many people were unaware of this, Bernhard produced the photography for the first catalog published by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The name of this exhibition was “The Art of The Machine.” Her father Lucian Bernhard set up the meeting with MoMA for her.

By 1944 she had met and became involved with artist and designer Eveline (Evelyn) Phimister. The two moved in together, and remained together for the next ten years. They first moved to Carmel, California, where Bernhard worked with Group f/64. Soon, finding Carmel a difficult place in which to earn a living, they moved to Hollywood where she fashioned a career as a commercial photographer. In 1953, they moved to San Francisco.

Most of Bernhard’s work is studio-based, ranging from simple still lifes to complex nudes.”