John Bernhard (born May 17, 1957, Geneva, Switzerland) is a Swiss American artist and photographer best known for his surrealist nude studies. Rather than merely showing women’s bodies, Bernhard overlaid elements of the earth through projections and worked with myths of metamorphosis as a subtext for his model photography. The resulting images include allusions to the material by which the models are absorbed or into which they disappear. His work was included in the 120 year survey of the nude exhibition “Body Work” at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, alongside the work of Edward Weston, Bill Brandt, Eadweard Muybridge, E. J. Bellocq, and Edward Steichen. Bernhard later continued to devote all his energy taking photographs and bringing them together to enhance their meaning with visual interplay. This is evident in his “Diptychs” and sequencing series “Drift”. He was profiled in the documentary show “Temps Present” on Swiss Television TSR (Switzerland) and the global network TV5 Monde. His work is widely published and exhibited throughout the U.S. and Europe. His photographs are collected by many museums including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Akron Art Museum, Ohio; Denver Art Museum; Musee de l'Elysee, Site officiel Lausanne, Switzerland; Museet for Fotokunst, Site officiel Denmark; the New Mexico Museum of Art; Polk Museum of Art, Florida and the Swiss National Library, Bern. His work was shown in 2004 as a major mid-career retrospective exhibition at the Musee des Suisses dans le Monde in Geneva. John Bernhard lives and works in Houston, Texas.

Published Photo Books

• Drift, Introduction Shannon Rasberry, Published by Elite Editions, 2006, ISBN 0974902217
• John Bernhard - A Retrospective, Preface by William Ewing, Published by Editions de Penthes, 2004, ISBN 2970039532
• Diptych, Published by Elite Editions, 2004, ISBN 0974902209
• Nicaragua, Published by The Nicaraguan Children Texas Benefit Fund, 2002, ISBN 0971911606
• Nudes Metamorphs, Published by Emco Press, 2000, ISBN 0967328616

Bibliography (Books with John Bernhard’s work, selection)

• Nude Bible, anthology, Udyat & Tectum Publishers, Barcelona and Brussels, 2007, ISBN 9076886504
• Love an Desire: Photoworks, by William Ewing, published by Chronicle Books, 1999, ISBN 081182621X
• Graphis Photo Annual 2004, by Michael Porciello, Graphis Press, 2003, ISBN 1931241333
• FotoFest Books 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, published by FotoFest, Inc.
• Hedendaagse Naaktfotografie II (Facing Femal Nudity), published by Librero Nederland b.v., 2000

References

• Musee des Suisses dans le Monde
  
• http://www.penthes.ch/f/news/04/0409.htm
  

External links

• John Bernhard official website
  
• Interview with John Bernhard in Double Exposure
  
• Interview with John Bernhard in Swiss Info
  
• Review in Houston Business Journal