‘Queen of the Leica’: photographer Ilse Bing remembered in Hong Kong exhibition
The German was one of the first women photographers to master the avant-garde handheld Leica 35mm camera
In the first half of the 20th century, photography struggled to find acceptance in the art world. But some major developments, including the move in 1940 by the Museum of Modern Art to create the first photography department in a United States museum, changed the way the medium was perceived.
While largely male-dominated, there were a number of women who were carving a career in photography. Among them was German Ilse Bing.
In the 1930s, Bing became one of the few female photographers to master the avant-garde handheld Leica 35mm camera. Dubbed “Queen of the Leica”, she experimented with unconventional cropping, solarisation, electronic flashes and night photography. As a freelance commercial photographer in Paris, her work appeared in fashion magazines such as Vogue, Adam, Marchal and Harper’s Bazaar.
In 1936, her work was included in the first modern photography exhibition at the Louvre, in Paris, and the following year she had her first solo exhibition at the June Rhodes Gallery, in New York.
