Ingeborg Gerdes (1938 – 20 June 2020) was a German-American photographer.

Early life and education

Born in Merseburg, Germany in 1938, she earned a degree in economics from Heidelberg University in 1968. She received an MFA degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1970.

Ingeborg Gerdes

Career

Gerdes began taking photos in the mid 1960s when she had come to the United States with her husband Hartmut Gerdes. She is said to have arrived in San Francisco after a road trip with a bag full of exposed film. Installed in San Francisco, she began to photograph the neighborhoods of Russian Hill and Golden Gate Fields. Within five years of her 1970 graduation from the San Francisco Art Institute, Gerdes was part of the exhibition “Women Photographers: A Historical Survey” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Ingeborg Gerdes

Gerdes died on June 20, 2020, in Emeryville, California.

Ingeborg Gerdes

Collections

Cantor Arts Center

Harvard Art Museums

Norton Simon Museum

Oakland Museum

Portland Art Museum

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Museum of Modern Art, New York

References

1938 births

2020 deaths

20th-century German women artists

21st-century German women artists

20th-century German photographers

21st-century German photographers