Lamp Post, rue de la Chaise, Paris
Ilse Bing German
Not on view
Bing moved to Paris in 1930 and soon became known as the “Queen of the Leica” for her expertise at exploiting the hand-held 35mm camera’s ability to capture and transmit action. Here she responds to the odd, spectral beauty of the light emitted by a common gas lamp. In 1828 Paris became one of the first European cities to adopt gas street lighting, resurrecting its nickname “La Vielle-Lumière,” or “City of Light.” The sobriquet was first applied to Paris during the Age of Enlightment in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries due to its fame as a center of education and ideas.
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