✨AI Reimagines the Masters✨ Ruth Bernhard|323/1000

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Introduce briefly

Ruth Bernhard was a German-born American photographer known for her studio-based photographic practice. She was born on October 14, 1905, in Berlin, Germany, and moved to New York City in 1927 [1]. Bernhard's father, Lucian Bernhard, was a well-known graphic designer. After studying at the Berlin Academy of Art for two years, she began her photography career in New York, working briefly in Ralph Steiner's studio [3].

Bernhard's work primarily focused on black-and-white photography, ranging from simple still lifes to complex nudes. She was heavily involved in the lesbian subculture of the artistic community in Manhattan during the late 1920s [1]. Her first serious photograph, titled "Lifesavers," was published in Advertising Art in 1931 [3]. She gained recognition for her nude photography, with her most notable work in this genre being "Two Forms" (1962), featuring a black woman and a white woman pressed against each other [1].

In 1935, Bernhard moved to California after being inspired by the work of photographer Edward Weston, whom she had met on the beach in Santa Monica [1]. She became associated with the Group f/64, a group of photographers that included Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and Minor White [1]. Bernhard's work often focused on the small details of everyday life, and she believed that everything had a universal quality [1].

Throughout her career, Bernhard received numerous awards and honors for her contributions to photography. She was hailed by Ansel Adams as "the greatest photographer of the nude" [1]. In 1981, she was inducted into the Women's Caucus for Art, and in 2003, she received the Lucie Awards for achievement in fine art [1].

Bernhard's work has been featured in solo exhibitions, including one at the Jake Zeitlin Gallery in Los Angeles in 1936 [2]. She also published several books showcasing her photography, such as "Collecting Light: The Photographs of Ruth Bernhard" (1979) and "The Eternal Body: A Collection of Fifty Nudes" (1986) [1].