Gifted by Bernhard to a friend; by descent to the present owner.

with--Ruth Bernhard. A pair of photographs, each titled "Silk." Chromogenic prints, 7x10 and 7x13 5/8 inches (17.8x25.4 and 17.8x34.6 cm.), each with Bernhard's signature, in pencil, on mount recto; and the smaller also with her signature, title, date, and notations, in pencil, on print verso, and her signature on the overmat recto; the larger with her siganture, title, and date, in pencil, on mount verso. 1968 (2).


"My aim is to transform the complexities of the figure into harmonies of simplified forms revealing the innate reality, the life force, the spirit, the inherent symbolism and the underlying remarkable structure--to isolate and give emphasis to form with the greatest clarity." -- Ruth Bernhard

Ruth Bernhard was born in Berlin and began her photographic studies at the Berlin Academy of Art. In 1927 Bernhard moved to New York and became a commercial photographer. On a trip to California, in 1935, she met Edward Weston, who deeply influenced her artistic vision. Inspired by Weston's dedication to his art, she moved to California to study with him. She lived briefly in Carmel, but soon moved to Hollywood, where she opened a commercial portrait studio while developing her own artistic projects. In 1957, she relocated to San Francisco, where she worked until the end of her life.

Best-known for her sensual nude studies, Bernhard primarily worked in black-and-white and occasionally in color, using a distintively muted palette. Her color prints are scarce, and render the human form with beauty and grace.