Ellen Auerbach

Ellen (Rosenberg) Auerbach (May 20, 1906, Karlsruhe, Germany – July 30, 2004, New York City) was a German-born American photographer who is best remembered for her innovative artwork for the ringl+pit studio in Berlin during the Weimar Republic.

Auerbach (born Ellen Rosenberg) was born May 20, 1906 in Karlsruhe, Germany. She was born to a liberal Jewish family, and was the daughter of Max Rosenberg and Melanie Gutmann. Her father was a successful businessman while her mother looked after the family.

Rosenberg took no interest in the family business, so her parents allowed her to study, but provided little financial support or encouragement. Between 1924 and 1927, Auerbach studied art at the Badische Landeskunstschule in Karlsruhe. Her professors were Paul Speck and Karl Hubbuch.

In 1928 she went to the Academy of Art (Am Weissenhof) in Stuttgart to continue her studies. Whilst at the academy she carved a bust of her uncle; he gave her a 9 x 12 cm camera in order to get "the angles right". This first experience led her to pursue photography as a way of earning a living.

In 1929 Rosenberg moved to Berlin to study photography with Walter Peterhans, who was a member of the Bauhaus design movement. Whilst studying under Peterhans, Rosenberg met Grete Stern, Peterhans' only other private student. Berlin's liberal environment allowed women to live free social and sexual lives, and Rosenberg was able to break away from her family's traditional expectations.

Rosenberg's studies with Peterhans were interrupted in 1930 when he moved to Dessau to become the Master of Photography at the Bauhaus School for art and design, but not before impressing on her that photography was an art form, a novel idea at the time. He also encouraged her to pursue photography throughout her life.

In 1930 Rosenberg and Stern bought Peterhan's studio and equipment, and founded their own photography and design studio specialising in advertising, fashion and portrait photography. This was one of the world's first female-run photographic businesses. They named the studio after their childhood names, ringl+pit (pit for Rosenberg), which also advantageously disguised their genders Unusually, they signed all of their work together.

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