Ruth Bernhard
(1905-2006)
"Creation," 1936
Gelatin silver print on paper mounted to a board mount
Signed in pencil on the mount, at right: Ruth Bernhard; annotated in pencil on a label affixed to the frame's backing paper: Dolls Head
Image/Sheet: 7.5" H x 9.375" W; Mount: 11.75" H x 14" W
Literature: James Alinder, "Collecting Light: The Photographs of Ruth Bernhard" (Carmel, CA: Friends of Photography, 1979), plate 5.
Ginny Williams, "Ruth Bernhard: The Collection of Ginny Williams" (Denver, CO: Tallgrass Press, 1993), plate 11.
Margaretta K. Mitchell, "Ruth Bernhard: Between Art & Life" (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2000), p. 69.

Other Notes: The book, "Ruth Bernhard: Between Art & Life," a memoir written in the first person with other voices used as a counterpoint to balance the single voice. Ruth Bernhard discussed that the 1936 image is the "first image she created after she met Edward Weston that represented her own vision, her birth as an artist." Specifically, she says when in Los Angeles "I discovered the doll hospital that played an important role in my photographic life. It was there that I found and purchased the doll's head without a body that eventually found its way into my photograph "Creation". I came upon the doll hospital on Hollywood Boulevard when I looked in the window and saw a lot of body parts of dolls, hands, feet, and heads. I went inside and asked, "May I buy this head?" Bernhard continues, "The day after I found the doll's head. I saw a wooden hand holding gold-tipped Turkish cigarettes in a window. It appealed to me, so I bought it and took it home. The photograph of Silver Lake in Colorado that I had taken on the original trip west to Los Angeles fit behind the hand; the doll's head rested quietly in the hand, and there it was, the first real photograph that I took after meeting Edward Weston. As with my still-life photographs, it took days to make. Although I call it "Creation," it also has been called "The Doll's Head". Edward wanted to own the photograph, so I gave it to him. In return, he gave me a wonderful photo of seaweed that I loved."

Overall good condition. As mentioned above, the sheet is mounted to a board mount.

Framed under glass: 16" H x 17.5" W x 1" D Condition reports are offered as a courtesy and are typically published in Moran's catalogue or can be made available upon request. The absence of a condition report does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of others. Buyers are responsible for determining to their own satisfaction the true nature and condition of any lot prior to bidding. Though buyers are not legally required to inspect lots prior to purchase, failure to do so may constitute a waiver of complaint that an item was not delivered in a condition equal to the existent condition at the auction.