Bertien van Manen (15 February 1935 – 26 May 2024) was a Dutch photographer. She started her career as a fashion photographer, after having studied French and German languages and literature. Inspired by Robert Frank's The Americans she travelled around, photographing what she saw. She had her first exhibition in The Photographers' Gallery in London in 1977 and since then her work has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Maison européenne de la photographie in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Fotomuseum Winterthur. Van Manen's work is found in major public collections.
Bertien van Manen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 February 1935 The Hague, Netherlands |
| Died | 26 May 2024 (aged 89) Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | University of Leiden |
| Occupation | Photographer |
| Years active | 1977–2024 |
Life and work
editBertien van Manen was born on 15 February 1935 in The Hague.[1] She started her photography career in 1974 as a fashion photographer after studying French language and literature at the University of Leiden.
Inspired by Robert Frank's book The Americans (1958), van Manen switched from fashion photography to a more documentary approach, she travelled around, photographing what she saw. She uses an inexpensive snapshot camera to take photos of people she meets, as she feels that these cameras allow her subjects to consider "me as a tourist or friend, who likes to take pictures." She has photographed extensively in China, the Appalachian Mountains in the US and the former Soviet Union.
She worked on commission and for long running projects, such as A Hundred Summers, A Hundred Winters (1991) about the post-Soviet states, East Wind, West Wind (2001) about China, Give me your Image (2006) about Europe,[2] Moonshine (2014) with photographs of mining families in the Appalachian Mountains,[3] and Beyond Maps and Atlases (2016) from Ireland.[4][5]
In 2011 Let's Sit Down Before We Go was published by MACK, edited by Stephen Gill. In 2017 I Will be Wolf was published by MACK, edited by Stephen Gill.
Van Manen died in Amsterdam on 26 May 2024, at the age of 89.[6][7]
Publications
edit- A Hundred Summers, A Hundred Winters. Amsterdam: De Verbeelding, 1994.
- East Wind West Wind. Amsterdam: De Verbeelding, 2001.
- In Moldova. Aorta Chisinau, 2005.
- Give me your Image. Göttingen: Steidl, 2006.
- Let's Sit Down Before we go. London: Mack, 2011.Edited by Stephen Gill.
- Easter and Oak Trees. London: Mack, 2013.[8]
- Moonshine. London: Mack, 2014.
- Beyond Maps and Atlases. London: Mack, 2016. ISBN 9781910164433.
- I Will be Wolf. London: Mack, 2017. Edited by Stephen Gill. ISBN 978-1-910164-91-4.
- Gluckauf. FW, 2023.
Exhibitions
editSolo exhibitions
edit- A Hundred Summers, A Hundred Winters, Fotomuseum Winterthur,1995[9]
- East Wind West Wind, The Photographers' Gallery, London, 2002[10]
- Beyond the Image: Bertien van Manen & Friends, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2019[11]
- Wish I Were Here , Fotomuseum Winterthur, 2022[12]
Group exhibitions
edit- Museum of Modern Art, New York[13]
Collections
editVan Manen's work is held in the following public collections:
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam[14]
- Fotomuseum Antwerp[15]
- Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris[16]
- Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland[17]
- Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam[18]
- Museum of Modern Art, New York[19]
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York[20]
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco[21]
References
edit- ^ "RKD - Bertien van Manen". RKD Research (in Dutch). Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- ^ Ladd, Jeffrey (5 January 2012). "Bertien van Manen: Let's Sit Down Before We Go". Time. Archived from the original on 8 January 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ^ "'Moonshine', by photographer Bertien van Manen". Financial Times. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ^ Mather, Annalee (9 February 2016). "Bertien van Manen, Beyond Maps and Atlases, book review". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
- ^ O'Hagan, Sean (12 January 2016). "'Beyond everything': one woman's ghostly odyssey around Ireland". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
- ^ "Docufotograaf Bertien van Manen (1935-2024) was eigenzinnig, avontuurlijk en voor de duvel niet bang". Volkskrant. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ "In Memoriam | Bertien van Manen". www.bertienvanmanen.nl. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- ^ Fussell, Genevieve (9 December 2013). "A Bohemian Family Vacation". The New Yorker. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ^ "Fotomuseum Winterthur | Museum for Photography and Visual Culture | Bertien van Manen – A Hundred Summers, A Hundred Winters". Fotomuseum Winterthur. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/TPG%20Exhibition%20List%20-%201971-2021.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Grrr.nl. "Beyond the Image: Bertien van Manen & Friends". www.stedelijk.nl. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ "FOMU Antwerp | Expositions | Bertien van Manen - Wish I Were Here". FOMU (in French). Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ https://www.moma.org/artists/7867#exhibitions [bare URL]
- ^ "Objects in the Rijksmuseum". Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ^ "Bertien Van Manen at FOMU - Fotomuseum Antwerp". Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- ^ Mangione, Giulia (22 November 2013). "City of Light: Russia at Paris Photo — Top 5". Calvert Journal.
- ^ "Collection Fotomuseum Winterthur". Fotomuseum Winterthur. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ "Beyond the Image". www.stedelijk.nl. 19 April 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ https://www.moma.org/artists/7867 [bare URL]
- ^ "Results for "Bertien van Manen" - The Metropolitan Museum of Art". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ "van Manen, Bertien". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2 June 2024.