Photography
Bloch’s personal photos and those taken of BlochThe Photography of Ernest Bloch
The [photographic] negative is the equivalent of the composer’s score and the print is the performance.  Â
– Ansel Adams
Ernest Bloch was an avid photographer. He made over 6,000 negatives beginning in the late 1890s as a teenager with glass plate, stereo, and film cameras. His photographs ranged from self-portraits to pictures of his family, musicians, rural folk, and many diverse landscapes. He developed his own plates and films then made contact prints for albums to show family and friends. After acquiring his Leica in 1927, he had small commercial enlargements made. His photography showed a dedication to technique as well as an eye for light, composition, and a sensitivity to human expression.
Beginning in the early 1920s, through his friendship with Alfred Stieglitz, Bloch began to see photography as an art form. In 1970, at the invitation of Bloch’s children, Eric B. Johnson was given access to this vast archive in order to research, edit, and enlarge a selection of negatives. As a result, Bloch’s lifelong passion for the camera was brought into public view, which revealed an important additional aspect to his creative life.
Early Years 1897 – 1910
Geneva, Brussels, Studies Violin and Composition with Emile Jacque Dalcroze and Eugene Ysaye. Studies composition with Iwan Knorr at Frankfurt. Studies at Munich. Marries Marguerite Schneider and has three children with her, Ivan [1905-1980], Suzanne [1907-2002], and Lucienne [1909-1999]. Studies in Paris. Conducts in Lausanne. Composes Symphony in C #Minor, Hiver-Printemps, Opera Macbeth among others.
Ship tied to piers
Unknown
Cattle Auction in Fribourg, Switzerland, 1898
Near Munich, Germany, 1902
Self Portrait with violin in Brussels, 1897
Self Portrait, 1900
Bloch’s Home in Satigny (near Geneva) Switzerland, 1909
Self Portrait with cousin, Leon Geortchel in Saleve, Switzerland, 1909
Marguerite Schnieder Bloch near Munich, Germany, 1904
On Saleve Mountain near Geneva, Switzerland, 1910
Outside Geneva, Switzerland, 1896
Self Portrait in the Swiss Alps, 1900-1910
Self Portrait in Paris, 1905
Self Portrait, 1897
Self Portrait, 1900
Self Portrait, 1905
Self Portrait with Farming Family in Saleve Mountain near Geneva, Switzerland, 1904
Standing, 1904-1905
Whittler and Wife, Switzerland, 1910
Ysaye (long hair) at lunch in Brussels, Belgium, 1902
Ysaye on Bike in Brussels, Belgium, 1902
Switzerland 1910-1916
Moves to Satigny near Geneva. Hikes with a camera in the Saleve mountains outside of Geneva. Teaches at the Geneva Conservatory. Meets cellist Alexander Barjansky. Composes Three Jewish Poems, Israel Symphony, Schelomo, First Quartet among others.
Bloch’s children in Satigny, Switzerland, 1912
“Mushroom Lady” Satigny, Switzerland, 1912
Self Portrait with Farming Family in Saleve, La Thuile, Switzerland, 1912
Self Portrait with Wife and Children in Satigny, Switzerland, 1912
Cousin Leon Goertchel in Satigny, Switzerland, 1912
Crest of Saleve Mountain in Switzerland, 1912
Self-Portrait with his children, left to right: Lucienne, Suzanne, Ivan in Geneva, Switzerland, 1912
Bloch’s children with cousins, 1910
Self Portrait with children, aunt, and cousin in Satigny, Switzerland, 1912
Self Portrait with Christ in Geneva, Switzerland, 1916
New York 1916-1920
Moves to Lexington Ave., New York, Tours with Maude Allan as orchestra conductor. Meets music critic Paul Rosenfeld & photographer Alfred Stieglitz, Brings family to America, Performances of Bloch’s music in New York and Boston. Composes String Quartet No. 1, Suite for Viola and Piano among others.
Heading to America, Ocean waves, 1916
New York buildings
Entering New York Harbor, 1916
New York Skyline, 1916
New York Street, 1916-1917
View of east river, NYC
Crowd in NYC, 1916
Steamer in New York Harbor, 1916
Self portrait while with US Maude Allen troupe, 1916
Bloch’s mother, Sophie, on Lexington Avenue, NYC, USA, 1916
Portrait of hat in Asbury Park, New York, USA, 1918
Bloch with his Camera, New York, USA, 1916
Lucienne Bloch in Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA, 1918
Bloch with his Camera, New York, USA, 1916
Self portrait with his mother and his children, 1916
Cleveland, Sante Fe, Switzerland, San Francisco 1920-
1929
Founding Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1920. Teaches summers at Peterboro New Hampshire festival. December 1924 in Santa Fe NM, visits Inter-tribal Indian conference. Many self-portraits, travel images, pictures of Native Americans, San Francisco. 1925 appointed Director of San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Composes Viola Suite, Sonata No.1, Baal Shem Suite, Piano Quintet No.1, From Jewish Life, Concerto Grosso #1, Symphony America, Abodah and other works.
Steam Train in station, 1924
La Fonda Hotel, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 1924
Santa Fe Cigar Sign, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 1924
Burro Alley, Sante Fe, New Mexico, USA, 1924
“The Lonely Tree” Griesalp, Switzerland, 1927
Self Portrait in Santa Fe with snow, New Mexico, 1924
Sante Fe Indigenous Face, front view 1924
Santa Fe Indigenous Face, side view 1924
Ernest Bloch by Dorothea Lange, 1929
Clearwater Lake, New Hampshire, USA, 1923
Clearwater Pond near Peterboro, New Hampshire, USA, 1922
Clearwater Pond with boat in Peterboro, New Hampshire, USA, 1922
Ford over bridge, 1923
Hotchkiss Hotel, 1924
Kids in San Francisco with Ferry, California, USA 1926
San Francisco panorama, California, USA, 1925
Picnic with Ford, 1923
Self Portrait with Flonzaley Quartet in Peterboro, New Hampshire, USA, 1922 — (Left to Right) Emmeran Stoeber, Ugo Ara, Ernest Bloch, Felix Borowski, and Louis Svecencki
Self Portrait, Stereo, Director of Cleveland Institute of Music, 1922
Self Portrait in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 1923
Self Portrait in Kimono, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 1922
Self Portrait in Peterboro, New Hampshire, USA, 1922
Self Portrait in Mill Valley composing ‘America’, California, USA, 1925
Self Portrait with Unknown, Peterboro, New Hampshire, USA, 1922
Self Portrait with Model T, 1922
San Francisco docks, California, USA, 1925
Suzanne Bloch, Peterboro, New Hampshire, USA, 1922
View of Yerba Buena Island, Bay Area, California, USA, 1926
Roveredo Switzerland, Chatel, French Alps,
1930-38
Receives stipend to compose The Sacred Service, settles in southern Switzerland village of Roveredo. Using his Leica photographs trees extensively as well as rural people. 1936 moves to Chatel Haute-Savoie in the French Alps. Photographs visiting musicians including Yehudi Menhuin, Alexander Barjansky, landscapes and rural people. Composes: Sacred Service, Voice in the Wilderness, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra among other works.
Yehudi Menhuin, France, 1936
Alexander Barjanski, cellist, Chatel, France, 1937
‘Mozart’, Roveredo, Ticino, Switzerland, 1931
‘Debussy’, Roveredo, Switzerland, 1931
‘Beethoven’, Roveredo, Switzerland, 1931
‘Bach’, Roveredo, Switzerland, 1931
Cloud, Chatel Haute-Savoie, France, 1935
Chatel Haute-Savoie, France, 1935
Self portrait in Chatel Haute-Savoie, France, 1936
Roveredo Aspens, Roveredo, Switzerland, 1931
Roveredo-Capriasca, Ticino, Switzerland, 1931
Roveredo Aspens, Roveredo, Switzerland, 1931
Roveredo, Ticino, Switzerland, 1931
Roveredo Aspens, Roveredo, Switzerland, 1931
Peasant, Chatel Haute-Savoie, France, 1935
Lucienne in Roveredo, Switzerland, 1931
‘Bach’, aspen trees in Roveredo, Switzerland, 1931
Bloch and Menhuin Chatel ,1936 (by Lucienne Bloch)
Swiss Alps, 1935
Late Years, Agate Beach, Oregon 1941-1959
Teaches at the Univ. of California Berkeley in summer sessions, settles in Agate Beach Oregon. Composes over two dozen works including String Quartet #2, Suite Hebraique, Concerto Grosso No.2, String Quartet No.3 & No.4 among others.
Agate Beach, Oregon, USA, 1956
Sunset, Agate Beach, Oregon, USA, 1956
Agate Beach composing, Oregon, USA, 1956
Agate Beach, Oregon, USA, 1956
Agate Beach, Oregon, USA, 1956
Agate Beach, mid 1950s
Agate Beach Headlands, 1955
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