I began to photograph in earnest after I left my career as a civil rights lawyer and had two young children to whom I was tethered. I explored the sorrows as well as the sweetness of family life and, more generally, the ambivalence that shadows intimate relationships. Although my subjects have primarily been young people, it is not my intention to examine childhood specifically. Rather, I am interested more broadly in the complex mysteries of the human psyche. I find the uninhibited behavior of children to be a rich source of clues to the interior life generally; with awkwardness and eloquence, they experience the same psychological and social dramas with which we continue to struggle as adults.

 

I am a reluctant traveler so most of my photographs are made close to home, either in Philadelphia or near our family’s summer cottage in northern Pennsylvania. I work intuitively, discovering rather than orchestrating my pictures.  Some of my subjects are strangers but most I know very well and have photographed frequently as they have grown and changed.

 

 

Selected Honors

 

 

Juror’s Award for Artistic Excellence (Michael Mazzeo, juror), Perkins Center for the Arts, Photography 27 Exhibition, 2008.

 

Silver Eye Center for Photography, Fellowship 2007 (Kate Ware, juror), Honorable Mention, 2007.

 

Juror’s Award for Artistic Excellence (Katherine Ware, juror), Perkins Center for the Arts, Photography 25 Exhibition, 2006.

 

Black and White Magazine, Excellence Award, Portfolio Contest, 2006.

 

Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, 2005.

 

Artist in Residence, Girard College (Philadelphia), 2005-06.

 

The Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography, Semi-Finalist, 2004.

 

Fleisher Art Memorial Challenge Artist, 2001-2002.

 

Silver Eye Center for Photography, Fellowship 2000 (Jeffrey Hoone, juror), Honorable Mention, 2000.

 

Ruttenberg Arts Foundation Award, The Friends of Photography and Ansel Adams Center for Photography, Honorable Mention, 1999.

 

Johnson and Johnson World Headquarters Corporate Collection, Purchase Prizes, Perkins Center for the Arts,

Photography 17, 18, 23, and 24 Exhibitions, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005.

 

Juror’s Award for Artistic Excellence (Merry Foresta, juror), Perkins Center for the Arts, Photography 17 Exhibition, 1997.

 

Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Visual Arts Fellowship in Photography, 1996-97.

 

Joseph S.Wohl Memorial Award, Main Line Art Center, “The Power of Paper Exhibition”, 1997.

 

Leeway Foundation Photography Grant, Honorable Mention Award, 1996.

 

First Place (The Berry and Homer Award for Excellence in Photography), The Philadelphia Sketch Club, Juried Photography Show, 1996.

 

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists (formerly Creative Artists Network), Philadelphia, Affiliate Artist, 1995-1997.

 

 

Selected Exhibitions

 

 

The Philadelphia Museum of Art,  “Emerging to Established,” 2008.

 

Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh PA (Two Person Exhibition),  2008.

 

Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, 2008.

 

Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA,  “13th Juried Exhibition” (juried by Brian Clamp), 2007.

 

The Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Summer Vacation:  Photographs from the Collection,” 2006.

 

Open Lens Gallery, Philadelphia, “Growing Up Girl:  Photography by Rita Bernstein, Ellie Brown, and Jeff Hurwitz,” 2006.    

 

The Felicity R. “Bebe” Benoliel Gallery, Philadelphia (Solo Exhibition), “Past Perfect,” 2006.

 

New York University, Kimmel Center Gallery, New York (Solo Exhibition), “Fragile: Do Not Bend,” 2005.

 

Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ,  “Noteworthy:  Award-Winning Images from Perkins Center’s Juried Photography

Exhibitions,” 2005.

              

Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, “Art in City Hall 1984-2005,” 2005.

 

University of the Arts, Gallery 1401, Philadelphia (Solo Exhibition),  “Homesick,” 2003.

 

University of Pennsylvania, Burrison Art Gallery (Solo Exhibition),  “Picture Stories,” 2003.

 

Fleisher Art Memorial Challenge Exhibition, Dene M. Louchheim Galleries, Philadelphia, 2002.

 

Open Lens Gallery, Philadelphia, “Perspectives in Portraiture:  Photographs by Rita Bernstein, Larry Fink, Judy Gelles,

and Michael Smith,” 2002.

 

Gallery 231, Philadelphia, “Hometown: Philadelphia-area Photographers in the Photo Review,” 2002.

 

Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ, “Kinship: Prints by Rita Bernstein and Judith Brodsky,” 2001.

 

Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art, Philadelphia, “Take Five On the American Landscape” (curated by

Jacqueline van Rhyn), 2001.

 

Gallery at Historic Yellow Springs, Chester Springs, PA, “Photography: Contemporary Prospect 2000” (by invitation of curator Stephen Perloff), 2000.

 

The Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, NJ (Solo Exhibition), “Friends and Families: Photographs by Rita Bernstein,” 1999.

               

Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia (Solo Exhibition), 1998.

 

Philadelphia Art Alliance, “SIX (The Work of Six Contemporary Women Artists),” 1998.

 

Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ, “Photography 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 Exhibitions,” 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.

 

 

Selected Bibliography

 

             

Pinhole Journal, Vol.22, No.3, That’s All Folks, December 2006.

 

Black and White Magazine, Portfolio, including Cover Image, August 2006.

 

Pinhole Journal, Vol.21, No.3, Contemporary Images 14, December 2005.

 

Black and White Magazine, Rita Bernstein, October 2004.

 

Pinhole Journal, Vol. 19, No.3, Portraits and Figures by Women, December 2003.

 

Photovision Magazine, Luck and Magic: Photographs of Rita Bernstein, July/August 2002.

             

The New York Times, Up-to-the-Minute Show With Echoes of the Past, February 14,1999.

 

The New York Times, Sensibilities of Childhood Without the Sentimentality, January 24,1999.

 

The Photo Review, Rita Bernstein, Photographs: Friends and Families, Spring 1999.

 

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Rita Bernstein: Young Homebodies, July 18, 2003.

 

The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Faces of Portraiture, March 7, 2003.

 

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Rita Bernstein: Faces of Childhood, February 22, 2002.

 

Shots Magazine, A Few Thoughts on the Work of Rita Bernstein, Gina Kelly, and Linda Smogor

by Jock Sturges, September 2000.                        

 

 

Collections

 

 

Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

Johnson and Johnson World Headquarters Corporate Collection

 

Honickman Family Collection

 

Felicity Benoliel (deceased)

 

 

Education

 

 

University of Pennsylvania Law School, Juris Doctor

 

Barnard College, Columbia University, B.A. in English

 

 

Additional Websites

             

 

Aperture Images: www.apertureimages.org

 

PhotoEye: www.photoeye.com/RitaBernstein

 

International Pinhole Photographer’s Gallery: www.pinholeresource.com

 

 

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