Grete Stern

Grete Stern (Argentine, born German, 1904–1999) was born in Germany, but often visited family in England and attended primary school there. She began studying graphic arts in Stuttgart from 1923 to 1925, but after discovering the work of Edward Weston and Paul Outerbridge she changed her artistic focus and began experimenting with photography. Stern moved to Berlin and took private lessons from Walter Peterhans, the instructor of photography at the Bauhaus. In Berlin she met fellow Peterhans-student Ellen Auerbach. Stern took over her teacher’s studio in Berlin in 1929 when Peterhans relocated to Dessau, and one year later founded her own studio with Ellen Auerbach, called ringl+pit, a prize-winning Berlin-based photography and design studio. The studio was soon well-known for innovative work in advertising. Between 1930 and 1933 Stern continued her studies with Peterhans, and through him met Horacio Coppola. However, the political climate of Nazi Germany led her to emigrate to England in 1933. In 1936, together with her husband Horacio Coppola and their two children, she sought exile in Argentina, and opened a studio for advertising there one year later. Between 1963 and 1983 she worked as a freelance graphic designer and photographer.