Ringl + Pit Ringl (Grete Stern): b. 1904, Wuppertal, Germany Pit (Ellen Auerbach): b. 1906, Karlsruhe, Germany Grete Stern and Ellen Auerbach met in 1929 in a photography course taught by Walter Peterhans, who was soon to become a photography instructor at the Bauhaus. Auerbach had previously studied sculpture, while Stern held a commercial license as a graphic artist. Both were seduced by the camera as the ultimate instrument of modern vision, and they enthusiastically abandoned their former identities to found an advertising agency in Berlin, its name taken from their childhood nicknames. The images they made over the next five years express the photographic language of the times, with their marked preference for close-ups, dynamic angles, and a focus on dramatically isolated objects. Stern and Auerbach emigrated from Germany in separate directions just months after Adolf Hitler assumed power in 1933, consigning their teamwork to history; thanks to the Museum Folkwang and others, that consignment has been reclaimed within their lifetime. Soapsuds (Seifenlauge), 1930 Gelatin-silver print, 7 x 6 1/4 inches (17.8 x 15.9 cm) Like many works by Ringl + Pit, this photograph was created independently, to attract clients to their firm rather than sell customers a particular product. The image bears the stamp of its times in its bird's-eye camera angle, tight framing, and emphasis on simple formal composition. Ringl + Pit focus on a domestic subject, cleaning one's hands, with an attention that conveys practicality and care for domestic hygiene, both hallmarks of advertising aimed at the "new woman." An activity (washing up) that had been seen as feminine would henceforth be recoded as fundamental to modern living for men and women alike. At the same time, advertising photographs such as this can be said to have promoted the further commodification of domestic life, amplifying the choice of purchasable goods for women without changing their status in society.—Matthew S. Witkovsky