NORFOLK, VA.- The Chrysler Museum of Art explores the life and legacy of a 20th-century photography pioneer in “Ilse Bing Between Paris and New York,” on view June 5-Oct. 18. Featuring approximately 40 works drawn from the Museum’s collection, the exhibition follows German Jewish artist Ilse Bing (1899-1998) on her artistic journey from expatriate to refugee, revealing how she used her camera to navigate a rapidly changing world.

In 1930, Bing moved from Germany to Paris, where she joined a cosmopolitan group of artists bent on capturing the city in all its complexity. Central to her practice was the compact Leica, the first mass-produced 35mm camera, which enabled her to photograph the city from new and unusual angles. By 1931, photographer and critic Emmanuel Sougez had dubbed Bing “Queen of the Leica,” placing Bing alongside avant-garde luminaries such as André Kertész, Brassaï and Man Ray.


Ilse Bing (American, b. Germany, 1899–1998), The Trocadero seen from Pont des Invalides, 1935, Gelatin silver print, Gift of the Ilse Bing Estate, 2004.13.8

Bing traveled to New York City in 1936, turning her camera on the city’s skyline and cultural life. She photographed everything from the Chrysler Building to performers at Madison Square Garden. She returned to France invigorated by her time in New York, but her career in Paris was cut short following the Nazi invasion of France. After being briefly interned, Bing secured safe passage to the United States, returning to New York in 1941 as a refugee.

“What attracted me to this body of work is that Ilse Bing’s photographs are so emblematic of a particular place and time—Paris and New York in the ‘30s—but her story also has incredible resonance with contemporary questions about migration and belonging,” said Mia Laufer, Ph.D., the Chrysler Museum’s Irene Leache curator of European art. “She went from living as a chic German expat in Paris to being a refugee fleeing the Nazis and finally an immigrant resettling in the States. Through it all, she used her camera to find her place in a world that was spinning out of control.”


Ilse Bing (American, b. Germany, 1899–1998), Self-Portrait with Leica, 1931, Gelatin silver print, Museum purchase, 2025.74.1

Drawn from the Chrysler Museum’s substantial holdings, the exhibition places Bing’s work alongside those of her friends and contemporaries, inviting visitors to experience how artists of the period captured the architecture, energy and rhythms of modern urban life.

Additionally, the exhibition provided an opportunity to reassess the Museum’s holdings of Bing’s work. Two newly acquired photographs, “Self-Portrait with Leica” (1931) and “Cancan, Moulin Rouge, Paris” (1931), will be on view in this exhibition. Both works date from Bing’s early years in Paris and strengthen the Museum’s holding from this formative period. The acquisitions also support ongoing efforts to strengthen the Museum’s photography collection and more fully represent the contributions of women artists.

“Ilse Bing Between Paris and New York” is organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art, curated by Mia Laufer, Ph.D., Irene Leache curator of European art, and marks Laufer’s first exhibition at the Chrysler Museum.


Ilse Bing (American, b. Germany, 1899–1998), Cancan, Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1931, Gelatin silver print, Museum purchase, 2025.74.2