Grete Stern

Grete Stern was born in Wuppertal on 9 May 1904. Due to her father’s work in international trade, she grew up in London as well as Wuppertal. After studying graphic design in Stuttgart and then briefly working, she began training as a photographer with Walter Peterhans in 1927. One year later, she met Ellen Auerbach, who was also being taught by Peterhans. When he received a position at the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1929, Stern and Auerbach founded the agency ringl + pit in his former studio. In 1932 Stern attended Peterhans’s photography class at the Bauhaus. Just one year later, her Jewish descent forced her to emigrate to London. Her British passport made her life in exile easier: she was able to work as a portrait photographer in England without facing any major bureaucratic obstacles. Stern and Auerbach worked together again in London for a short time. In 1935 Stern married the Argentinian photographer and former Bauhaus student Horacio Coppola. In 1936 they moved to Buenos Aires, where they opened a studio. Their home became a meeting place for the local art scene. After separating from Coppola, Stern worked as a freelance photographer. Among other things, she created surrealistic photomontages for the magazine “Idilio”. Stern founded the photography workshop of the Argentinian Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1956. Additionally, she documented the indigenous people of the Gran Chaco up into the 1960s. She stopped working as a photographer in 1985. Grete Stern died in Buenos Aires on 24 December 1999.