The German-born photographer Ellen Auerbach (b. Rosenberg) cofounded the highly successful Berlin-based graphic design and photography studio ringl + pit alongside friend and collaborator Grete Stern. The studio, named for the women’s childhood nicknames, provided Auerbach an opportunity to explore her creativity though photography and to secure her financial and social independence. Active from 1930 to 1933, the studio came to a premature end when Auerbach and Stern were compelled to leave Germany. After a brief period spent in Palestine, where she worked as a photographer and filmmaker, Auerbach married and immigrated to the United States, settling first in Philadelphia and later in New York. There, Auerbach found work as a portrait photographer, later switching careers to work as an educational therapist.
[…] [I]f suddenly Mexico and Israel went to war, on which side would I fight? My cowardly answer was plain and simple: “I really wasn’t cut out to be a soldier. So on neither one, since I’m a pacifist…
Tomb of Cyrus, King of Persia (reigned 559–530 BCE). The tomb stands in Cyrus’ capital, Pasargadae (near today’s Shiraz, Iran). See the Cyrus Cylinder for Cyrus’ role in the return of Judeans from…
Jacob Epstein, “Buying a Newspaper,” from Hutchins Hapgood’s The Spirit of the Ghetto: Studies of the Jewish Quarter in New York. Epstein was best-known for his sculptures, but he also created the…