Artists
Nathan Lerner
Selected Works
About Nathan Lerner (1913–1997)
Nathan Lerner was born in 1913 into a family of Ukrainian immigrants. He studied painting from an early age and began taking photographs at around sixteen, capturing Chicago’s lively markets and the people who gathered there.
Recognized for his talent at a young age by László Moholy-Nagy, Lerner enrolled as a member of the first class of the New Bauhaus in Chicago. While studying in its photography workshop, he devised the “Light Box,” a device that allowed him to manipulate light freely, and used it to pursue experimental forms of visual expression in which light itself became a material. This interdisciplinary approach laid the foundation for the remarkably diverse career that followed. After graduating, he also taught at the school and played an important role in educating a younger generation.
Although Lerner is often described as a practitioner of modern design shaped by the legacy of the Bauhaus, or as one of the leading photographers associated with the Chicago school, his activities extended across an exceptionally broad range of fields, including painting, photography, film, product design, and architecture. Among his best-known product designs is the “Honey Bear” bear-shaped honey container, which remains widely used today. Its enduring presence in everyday life also offers an intriguing example of how the functional and rational principles associated with Bauhaus design became naturally absorbed into the culture of mass production and consumption in the United States.
In 1968, following his marriage to the Japanese pianist Kiyoko Asai, Lerner developed closer ties with Japan and began photographing extensively throughout the country. Around this time, he also began working in colour for the first time. The first exhibition devoted to these colour photographs was held at the Pentax Gallery in Tokyo in 1972.
Numerous exhibitions of Lerner’s work have since been held in cities including Chicago, Berlin, Tokyo, and New York. His works are held in the collections of major museums, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In Japan, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, holds a substantial group of important photographic works spanning his career.
Recognized for his talent at a young age by László Moholy-Nagy, Lerner enrolled as a member of the first class of the New Bauhaus in Chicago. While studying in its photography workshop, he devised the “Light Box,” a device that allowed him to manipulate light freely, and used it to pursue experimental forms of visual expression in which light itself became a material. This interdisciplinary approach laid the foundation for the remarkably diverse career that followed. After graduating, he also taught at the school and played an important role in educating a younger generation.
Although Lerner is often described as a practitioner of modern design shaped by the legacy of the Bauhaus, or as one of the leading photographers associated with the Chicago school, his activities extended across an exceptionally broad range of fields, including painting, photography, film, product design, and architecture. Among his best-known product designs is the “Honey Bear” bear-shaped honey container, which remains widely used today. Its enduring presence in everyday life also offers an intriguing example of how the functional and rational principles associated with Bauhaus design became naturally absorbed into the culture of mass production and consumption in the United States.
In 1968, following his marriage to the Japanese pianist Kiyoko Asai, Lerner developed closer ties with Japan and began photographing extensively throughout the country. Around this time, he also began working in colour for the first time. The first exhibition devoted to these colour photographs was held at the Pentax Gallery in Tokyo in 1972.
Numerous exhibitions of Lerner’s work have since been held in cities including Chicago, Berlin, Tokyo, and New York. His works are held in the collections of major museums, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In Japan, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, holds a substantial group of important photographic works spanning his career.