(b Elberfeld [now Wuppertal-Elberfeld], 9 May 1904). German photographer and designer, active in Argentina. After studying (1923-5) graphic design at the Technische Hochschule, Stuttgart, she became active in advertising and layout design. Around 1927 she met the Bauhaus photographer Walter Peterhans (1897-1960). While studying with him in 1927-8 and completing his Bauhaus course in 1930, her work was informed by Surrealism and Constructivism and by what L?szl? Moholy-Nagy called the 'new vision' or the problems of an increasingly urban, mechanical age. In 1929 Stern established a studio in Berlin called Foto Ringl + Pit (Ringle + Pit), with fellow photographer Ellen Auerbach (b 1906). It was active mainly between 1929 and 1933 and became noted for its innovative advertising work. In 1933 Stern fled Germany and opened a studio in London, where she was active until 1937. Her production during these years is marked by her portraits of Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel and original works for Shell UK Ltd and the Kynch Press. Around 1936 she married the Argentine photographer Horacio Coppola, with whom she opened a studio in Buenos Aires. After World War II she was chiefly interested in architectural and documentary photography, earning a number of important commissions in Argentina. She is perhaps best known for her work of this period for the Argentine architect Amancio Williams and for the Municipal Architects Office of Buenos Aires. Stern's work later diversified as she became official photographer for the Department of Correspondence of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires (1956-70). She received important documentary commissions, photographing aboriginal cultures in Resistencia (1956) and the native cultures of Chaco (1959-60) and Chaco Norte?o (1964). In 1982 she received the Konex prize for her lifetime achievement in photography.
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