Bernis's Biography
I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1942 and received a BA in literature, graduating second in class from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963, earning a Phi Beta Kappa in 1962. In 1974, I began photographing the male nude, turning to other subjects in later years. I have lived in Northern Virginia since 1968. Before I moved to Virginia, I taught English at North East High School in Philadelphia, a school that became the subject Frederik Wiseman’s celebrated cinéma vérité documentary "High School,” for which he chose to film a segment of my poetry class. Later, I taught English literature and writing, including AP, in a Northern Virginia high school.
Hopefully, the work stands for itself.
Solo Exhibitions
2023 American University Museum, Washington, D.C. Nature’s Tapestry
2010 Greater Reston Arts Center renamed Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art, Reston, VA, Beautiful: Virginia Women Artists and the Body
2001 Troyer Gallery, Washington, D.C., Evanescence: Photographs at the Water's Edge
1998 Troyer Fitzpatrick Lassman Gallery, Washington, D.C., Narratives of Desire: Photographs by Michelle Luke, Bernis von zur Muehlen, and Susan Wides
1992 National Jewish Museum of the B'nai B'rith, Washington, D.C., Sacred Silences: Photographs of Jewish Prague
1991 Jones Troyer Fitzpatrick Gallery, Washington, D.C., Four Photographers: Linda Connor, Rosamund Purcell, Claire Flanders, and Bernis von zur Muehlen
1990 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Terra Sancta: Images of Israel, Nepal, and the American West (Arnold Kramer, Frank diPerna, Bernis von zur Muehlen, Peter von zur Muehlen)
1989 Osuna Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1984 Photoworks Gallery, Richmond, Virginia
Osuna Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1983 Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, Virginia
1981 Osuna Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Delaware Museum of Art, Wilmington, Delaware
1980 Bayly Museum of Art, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
1978 Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
Marcuse Pfeifer Gallery, New York, New York
1977 Wolfe Street Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1977 Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
1976 Eric Schindler Gallery, Richmond, Virginia
Washington Project for the Arts, “The Photographs of Bernis and Peter von zur Muehlen,” Alice Denney director, Washington, D.C.
Panopticon Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
1975 Wolfe Street Gallery, Alexandria, Virginia
1974 Washington Gallery of Photography, Washington, D.C.
Group Exhibitions
2019 The American University Museum, Washington, DC, Moves Like Walter: New Curators open the Corcoran Legacy Collection
2014 Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC, Flesh and Bone, Juried exhibition
2009 Osuna Art, Bethesda MD, 60 Artists
2007 Osuna Art, Bethesda MD, Washington Women in the Arts: A Selection
2004 Troyer Gallery, Washington, D.C., The Ultimate Exhibition
2003 Troyer Gallery, Washington, D.C., Landscape Memories
2000 Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD, Snapshot (exhibition followed by a national tour).
1992 New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, 1992 Triennial Exhibition, juried by John Szarkowski
1989 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Landscape Photographs from the Permanent Collection
1988 Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K, Behold the Man
The Photographer's Gallery, London, England, Behold the Man
Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Image of the Male Nude, curated by Peter Weiermair, Director/Curator of Photography
Kathleen Ewing Gallery, Washington, D.C., Dog Days Dog Show
1987 Journal Newspapers, Springfield, Virginia, Artists in the Atrium: Current Themes in Photography in the Metropolitan Area, curated by Sharon Keim, Director, Washington Center for Photography
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Women Photographers from the Corcoran's Collection
1986 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Recent Acquisitions in Photography
Decker Gallery, Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, Aspects of Light (mixed media, curated by Ned Rifkin, Curator of Contemporay Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
1984 Dalsheimer Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland (Artscape)
1983 Meyerhoff Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Second Annual Artscape Juried Competition
(Juror: Patterson Sims, Curator, Whitney Museum, New York)
Second Sight, Traveling exhibition of photographs from book, Second Sight
1982 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., From the Collection: Photographs by Women
Osuna Gallery, Washington, D.C., Group Show by Gallery Artists
Smithsonian Institution, Second Sight, Traveling exhibition of photographs from book, Invisible Light
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 35th Anniversary Area Show
1981 Portsmouth Museum, Portsmouth, Virginia, Six Photographers
Thomas Nelson Community College, Hampton, Virginia, Six Photographers
Gallery 10 LTD., Washington, D.C., Essentially Sensuous, (mixed media, invitational exhibition)
Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, Va., Photographers x Photographers
1980 Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C., Washington Photography of the Seventies
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond Virginia, Virginia Photographers 1980 (juried by Linda Connor, selected for traveling exhibition)
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Recent Acquisitions
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Invisible Light: - An Exhibition of Infrared Photography (subsequent travel in US and Europe)
1979 Osuna Gallery, Washington, D.C., Fifteen Artists
Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C., Invitational Exhibition
Wolfe Street Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Jeb Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island, Insights
Marcuse Pfeifer Gallery, New York, Insights Traveling Exhibition from Women Photograph Men
Osuna Gallery, Washington, D.C., Group Show by Gallery Artists
Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia, Three Photographers
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Recent Acquisition: Photographs
Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Connecticut, Recent Acquisitions
1978 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond Virginia, Virginia Photographers 1978 (juried by Thomas Barrow, work selected for traveling exhibition)
Marcuse Pfeifer Gallery, New York, The Male Nude
Susan Spiritus Gallery, Newport Beach, California,
Eight by Ten International Art Fair, Bologna, Italy (Wolfe Street Gallery)
Canon Gallery, San Francisco, California, Images from Women Photograph Men
1977 Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, Virginia, (juried by Marcia Tucker)
Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C., Second Anniversary Invitational Exhibition
International Center of Photography, New York, New York, Photographs from Women See Men and Women Photograph Men
Grace Gallery, Reston, Virginia, Four Photographers
Creative Photography Gallery, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
1976 Washington Womens Arts Center, Washington, D.C. (juried mixed media)
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., The Nation's Capital Photographers (juried by Samuel Wagstaff, Purchase Award)
Intuitive Eye Gallery, Washington, D.C., Self Portraits
1975 Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C., Inaugural Exhibition (mixed media, selected by Alice Denney, director)
Womansphere, Glen Echo Park, Maryland (3 judges' awards)
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia (juried by Aaron Siskind)
Washington Womens Arts Center, Washington, D.C., Feminine Erotica
Public Collections
American University Museum, Washington D.C.
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
International Center of Photography, New York, New York
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
Wesleyan University Davison Art Center, Middletown, Connecticut
Publications
Catalogues
2023 Nature’s Tapestry, American University Museum, Essay by Ori Z. Zoltes
2019 Moves Like Walter, American University Museum
1992 Sacred Silences: Photographs of Jewish Prague , National Jewish Museum, Essay by Ori Z. Zoltes
1990 Terra Sancta, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Invisible Light 1981: a catalog of the traveling exhibition of infrared photography, organized by Robert Cartmell, SUNY-Albany, for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibitions Service, pp. 49 - 50
Anthologies
Women Photograph Men, Danielle Hayes, ed., William Morrow, New York, 1977 (#4 and #61)
Women See Men, Kalmus, Ripp, and Wiesenfeld, eds., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1977 (pp. 88 and 90)
In/Sights: Self Portraits by Women, Joyce Tennyson Cohen, ed., Godine, Boston, MA, 1978 (p. 3)
Family of Woman, Julia Scully, ed., Ridge Press, New York, 1979 (p. 106)
The Story of American Photography: An Illustrated History for Young People, by Martin Sandler, Little Brown, Boston, MA, 1979 (p.309)
SX-70, Ralph Gibson, ed., Lustrum Press, New York, 1979 (p. 84)
The Male Nude in Photography, Lawrence Barnes, ed., Vermont Crossroads Press, Waitsfield, VT, 1980 (pp. 82-85)
Frauen Sehen Männer, Peter Weiermair, editor, Frankurter Kunstverein, Verlag 'Photographie' AG, Schaffhausen, Switzerland, 1988 (pp. 20-25)
Male Nudes by Women: An Anthology, Peter Weiermair, editor and curator, Frankurter Kunstverein, Editions Stemmle AG, Zurich, Switzerland, 1995 (pp. 20-25)
Male Nude Now, David Leddick, editor, Rizzoli/Universe, New York, 2001 (pp. 220-221)
Male Bodies: A Photographic History of the Nude, Emmanuel Cooper, Prestel, 2004 (pp . 82-85)
The Nude Male: 21st Century Visions, David Leddick, editor, Rizzoli/Universe, 2008 (pp. 232-233)
Magazines
Lightwork: A Magazine for Photographers, Bill Ferris, editor, vol. 1, no. 1 (April 1975), cover photograph and portfolio
CA75: the 16th CA Annual Communications Arts Magazine, vol. 17, no.5 (Nov/Dee 1975), award reproduction of cover of Lightwork
Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, 27th Annual Exhibition: As Others See Us, award for cover of Lightwork
Potomac Magazine of the Washington Post, Washington Photographers (May 1976)
Art in America, Capital Art, by David Tannous (July/August 1978), p.73
Virginia Photographers 1978, a catalog of the traveling exhibition sponsored by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Art in America, Report from Washington, by David Tannous (July/August 1979), p. 24, ( photograph and review)
The Image Continuum Journal, Sally Mann and Ted Orland, editors, vol.4, (1979), an invitational journal consisting of articles and original prints
Washington Review, vol.4, no.6 (April-May 1979), Cover Photograph.
Virginia Photographers 1980, a catalog of the exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, May 13-June 15
New Virginia Review, an anthology of Virginia literary and visual work, Virginius Dabney, ed., vol.3, (1984)
Photography Series One: Corcoran Gallery of Art, Instructional material for Discover the Corcoran Gallery of Art series, with reproductions of works by six American photographers: Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, John Gossage, Lewis Hine, Ronald Stark, and Bernis von zur Muehlen), Washington, D.C. (1985)
The Subject is Women, 1988 Calendar, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Behold the Man, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, The Stills Gallery, (1988)
Sing a Song of Children, 1989 Calendar, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Terra Sancta: Images of Israel, Nepal, and the American West, catalogue (featuring work by Arnold Kramer, Frank diPerna, Bernis von zur Muehlen, Peter von zur Muehlen Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1990
New Orleans Museum Triennial Exhibit of New Southern Photography, catalogue, New Orleans, LA, 1992
Sacred Silences: Images of Jewish Prague, catalogue, essay by Ori Z. Soltes ,National Jewish Museum of the B'nai B'rith, Washington, D.C., 1992
Washington Review, vol. xxiii, no.6 (April-May 1998), Cover photograph and Artist's Statement, p.5., Photograph, p.5.
Lectures and Presentations
Studio Visit by the Smithsonian Institution, David Tannous, instructor, 1977
Studio Visit by the Northern Virginia Community College, Joyce Tennyson, instructor, 1977
Gallery Talk, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, (in conjunction with one-person exhibition), 1978
Lecture on Infrared Photography, Catholic University, Washington, D.C., 1978 Discussion of career in photography, Mini -Course: Women in Art, Corcoran School of Art, Washington D.C., 1981
Lectures on The Changing Aesthetics of Photography, University of Virginia (Aesthetics in Education, graduate course, 1987- 1991)
Gallery Talk, National Jewish Museum of the B'nai B'rith, Washington, D.C., 1992
Lecture and discussion of career as a photographer, Second Sight Group, sponsored by Fraser Gallery, Bethesda, MD, 2004
Film and Television
Photographic Image from Sacred Silences used in footage of Oestersjöar, a television documentary by Poesia Per Musica, based on the poem "Baltics" by Tomas Transtömer, a celebrated 20-th century Swedish poet. Filmmaker: Jim Wine.