Ruth-Marion Baruch Retrospective
Currently on Display Through August 2024
Embark on a captivating journey through the life and work of Ruth-Marion Baruch in a retrospective photography exhibition at The Breman. Born in Berlin in 1922, Baruch's early challenges, including her parents' divorce and her father's sudden passing, laid the foundation for her remarkable resilience and creativity. Immigrating to the United States at a young age, she flourished academically, earning undergraduate degrees in Creative Writing and Journalism before becoming the first woman in the country to receive a Masters of Fine Arts in photography.
Baruch's time at the California School of Fine Arts, where she studied alongside luminaries such as Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, and Dorothea Lange, deeply influenced her artistic vision. Her collaborations with her husband, Pirkle Jones, resulted in iconic projects such as "They Grow in The City" and "Walnut Grove: Portrait of a Town." Additionally, her solo ventures, including "Illusion for Sale" and documenting the "Summer of Love" in Haight-Ashbury in 1967, showcase her keen eye for societal shifts and human experiences.
Her enduring relationships with mentors like Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams not only shaped her work but also influenced her personal life, as seen in Adams arranging her wedding in Yosemite Valley. Baruch's commitment to capturing the human experience extended beyond her art, as seen in her documentation of the Berryessa Valley's destruction for a Life Magazine story, shedding light on the impact of environmental change on communities.
Today, Baruch's legacy lives on through her extensive archive, housed alongside her husband's at the Special Collections Library and Archive, University of California, Santa Cruz. Her work has been showcased in prestigious institutions worldwide, including the de Young Museum in San Francisco and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, while also gracing private and public collections globally.
Join us as we celebrate Ruth-Marion Baruch's indelible mark on the world of photography and honor her enduring legacy at The Breman.
Additionally a series of photographs on the Berryessa Valley, Death of a Valley, by Dorothea Lange and Ruth-Marion Baruch's husband Pirkle Jones is currently on view at The Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, just a 45-minute drive north of Atlanta through June 9, 2024.