Fotografie Ringl + Pit was a small photographic studio operating in Berlin from 1930 to 1933, specializing in advertising photography and portraits.  Its moniker came from the nicknames of its partners, the photographers Grete Stern ["Ringl"] (1904-1999) and Ellen Auerbach ["Pit"] (1906-2004).  Both had been private students of the photographer and designer Walter Peterhans, who was appointed head of the photography department at the Bauhaus in Dessau.  Stern and Auerbach were profoundly influenced by Peterhans' teaching, as is evident in their innovative, often witty, compositions of graphic eloquence.  They exemplify a very short, but extremely fruitful, period in German cultural history that ended abruptly with Hitler's takeover in 1933.  Studio Ringl + Pit closed that year.  Grete Stern soon settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Ellen Auerbach emigrated to New York City.