Ring|+pit's "Glass and Paper," from 1931.
"About Town" Feature by Vince Aletti
Grete Stern and Ellen Auerbach were in their twenties in 1930, when they opened a studio in Berlin and began collaborating under the name ringl+pit. Their work-black-and-white portraits, still-lifes, and advertising shots, some now on view at Robert Mann gallery--subverts an education in Bauhaus severity with playful, quirky Surrealism. Their speciality was sophistication with an attitude, epitomized by a portrait of Auerbach (a.k.a. pit) giving viewers a knowing side-eye from under a veil. A reserved portrait of Bertolt Brecht stands out in a group that skews decidedly sensuous, including a twisted, fleshy glove, dandelions floating in a glass of water, and a woman's hands in a bowl of soapsuds.
Ring+pit softened the avant-garde's serrated edge, and then added their own sort of bite.