Described by Ansel Adams as the greatest photographer of the nude, Ruth Bernhard (1905–2006) created a collection of images that ranks among the most profound photographs of the female form. “My aim is to transform the complexities of the figure into harmonies of simplified forms revealing the innate reality, the life force, the spirit, the inherent symbolism and the underlying remarkable structure,” she said, “to isolate and give emphasis to form with the greatest clarity.”