Ilse Bing
Cancan Dancer, Moulin-Rouge, Paris

Cancan Dancer, Moulin-Rouge, Paris
Cancan Dancer, Moulin-Rouge, Paris
Cancan Dancer, Moulin-Rouge, Paris
ArtistAmerican, born Germany, 1899–1998
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Cancan Dancer, Moulin-Rouge, Paris
Date1931, printed 1984
PlaceParis, France
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 13 3/8 × 10 5/8 in. (34 × 27 cm)
Sheet: 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of Joan Morgenstern in memory of Elizabeth Daily Cohen
Object number2014.1116
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

As an early enthusiast of the small-format Leica camera,
with its fast, sensitive film, Bing was able to go into dark settings like the
Moulin Rouge nightclub and capture dynamic images such as this one. Unlike the
detail achievable in contact prints made from large-plate negatives, enlarging
from small negatives lent her images an atmospheric graininess. In 1931 Bing
made her debut with this series on cancan dancers at the Galerie de la Pléiade,
the most prominent of the new contemporary art galleries in Paris. Bing’s
talent for photographing the spirit and motion of dance did not go unnoticed: one
critic later praised the “twirling magnetism” of the series and the famous
choreographer George Balanchine invited her to photograph his ballet Errante
in 1933.




Provenance[Nancy Medwell, Seattle]; purchased by Joan Morgenstern, Houston, March 8, 1992; given to MFAH, 2014.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Signed in black ink, recto, lower right over image: ILSE // BING // 1931
Signed in pencil, verso, center: ILSE // BING // 1931
Inscribed in pencil, verso, lower right: FRENCH CANCAN DANCERS // MOULIN ROUGE PARIS // pr 1984
Signed in black ink, recto, lower right over image: ILSE // BING // 1931
Signed in pencil, verso, center: ILSE // BING // 1931
Printed label on verso mat/mount:
BING, ILSE / French Cancan Dancer, Moulin Rouge, / Paris 1931 / 13 x 10 1/2 inches / Signed and dated in ink on recto, signed, / titled and dated in pencil on verso

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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