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Emmy Andriesse

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Emmy Andriesse
Portrait by Eva Besnyö.
Born
Emmy Eugenie Andriesse

(1914-01-14)14 January 1914
The Hague, Netherlands
Died20 February 1953(1953-02-20) (aged 39)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
OccupationPhotographer
Known forDe Ondergedoken Camera [nl](The Underground Camera)[1]
SpouseDick Elffers

Emmy Eugenie Andriesse (14 January 1914, The Hague – 20 February 1953, Amsterdam) was a Dutch photographer best known for her work with the Amsterdam Underground Camera group (De Ondergedoken Camera [nl]) during World War II.[2]

Early life and education

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Emmy Andriesse was the only child of liberal Jews Abraham Andriesse and Else Fuld, both working in textile companies. At age fifteen, she lost her mother, and since her father traveled internationally for work, she was raised by several aunts.[2]

From 1932 to 1937, after high school, Andriesse studied advertising design at the Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague founded in 1929 by designer Gerrit Kiljan [nl]. At the academy she belonged to a group of students around left-wing designer Paul Schuitema. She attended an experimental class taught by Paul Schuitema and Gerrit Kiljan, where she learnt photography and the use of photographs in posters, advertising and newspaper articles.[3] In her final years of study, between 1935 and 1937, she lived in Voorburg in a 'community house' together with a group of politically conscious fellow students. Amongst the 15 or so residents were photographer Hans Wolf and academics Eva Loeb, Hans (Johanna) IJzerman and Lex Metz.[4] In this environment Andriesse and her friends came into contact with International Red Aid and various anti-fascist artists' organizations.[2] Andriesse was a member of Nederlandsche Vereeniging voor Ambachts- en Nijverheidskunst (V.A.N.K.) the Dutch Association for Craft and Craft Art.[5] Via this association Andriesse was involved in organizing the photo exhibition foto '37 in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, tohgether with Carel Blazer and Cas Oorthuys.[6]

War years and the 'Underground Camera'

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Emmy Andriesse: Boy with pan, 1944-1945.

In June 1941 Andriesse married graphic designer and visual artist Dick Elffers (a gentile with whom she had two sons, one who died young), but as a Jew during the Nazi occupation Andriesse was no longer able to publish and she was forced into hiding. At the end of 1944, with the assistance of the anthropologist Arie de Froe [nl] she forged an identity card and re-engaged in everyday life, joining a group of photographers, including Cas Oorthuys and Charles Breijer, working clandestinely as De Ondergedoken Camera.[2] The photos that Andriesse made under very difficult conditions of famine in Amsterdam, include Boy with pan, The Gravedigger and Kattenburg Children are documents of hunger, poverty and misery during the occupation in the "winter of hunger" of 1944-1945.[1]

The photographs made during that period by De Ondergedoken Camera (The Underground Camera) group, including those by Andriesse, were recognized on 17 April 2025 as Dutch documentary world heritage by the Dutch UNESCO Committee.[7][8]

Postwar

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Self-portrait with husband, Amsterdam, 1951.

After the war, she became a fashion photographer and was an associate and mentor of Ed van der Elsken. She participated in the group show Photo '48 and in 1952, together with Carel Blazer [nl], Eva Besnyö and Cas Oorthuys, the exhibition Photographie, both in Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum.[2] Edward Steichen chose her 1947 portrait of a staid and elderly Dutch couple for the section 'we two form a multitude'[9] in the Museum of Modern Art world-touring The Family of Man that was seen by an audience of 9 million.[10][11]In October 2006-January 2007 her work was included in a display of Twentieth Century European photography at the Barbican Art Gallery, London.[1]

Because of her long battle with cancer, Andriesse could not complete the photography for the book The World of Van Gogh (Dutch edition: De Wereld van Van Gogh) and died at the age of 39.[2] The book was published posthumously.[12]

The Emmy Andriessestraat (Emmy Andriesse Street) in the Oostelijk Havengebied (Eastern Docklands), Amsterdam, is named after her.

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Many Andriesse photos of the South of France were commissioned for the book by W. Jos de Gruyter, The World of Van Gogh, Amsterdam 1953, but not all were published.

  • Emmy Andriesse: French singer and actress Juliette Gréco, 1948.
    Emmy Andriesse: French singer and actress Juliette Gréco, 1948.
  • Landscape with trees and a building in the background, South of France, 1951-1952.
    Landscape with trees and a building in the background, South of France, 1951-1952.
  • Street near the church, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, 1951-1952.
    Street near the church, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, 1951-1952.
  • Untitled.
    Untitled.

Auvers-sur-Oise, France

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  • House of doctor Gachet, Auvers-sur-Oise, France, 1951-1952.
    House of doctor Gachet, Auvers-sur-Oise, France, 1951-1952.
  • Église Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption seen from Rue du Montcel, Auvers-sur-Oise, 1951-1952.
    Église Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption seen from Rue du Montcel, Auvers-sur-Oise, 1951-1952.
  • Auberge Ravoux, where Van Gogh died, Auvers-sur-Oise, 1951-1952.
    Auberge Ravoux, where Van Gogh died, Auvers-sur-Oise, 1951-1952.
  • Gravestones of Vincent and Theo van Gogh, Cimetière d'Auvers-sur-Oise, 1951-1952.
    Gravestones of Vincent and Theo van Gogh, Cimetière d'Auvers-sur-Oise, 1951-1952.

Works in collections

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A large collection of prints and negatives are kept in the special collections of Leiden University Libraries.[13][14] Also the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam has works by Andriesse in the collection.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Rawsthorn, Alice (October 17, 2006). "A secret history: A new exhibition of Emmy Andriesse's work". The Guardian. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Visser, Hripsimé (12 March 2019). "Andriesse, Emmy Eugenie (1914-1953)". Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland 1880-2000 (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Huygens ING.
  3. ^ "Emmy Andriesse (1914-1953)". fotomuseumdenhaag.nl. Fotomuseum Den Haag. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Andriesse, Emmy Eugenie". Joods Historisch Museum, Amsterdam (Jewish Historical Museum). Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
  5. ^ "V.A.N.K. Nederlandse Vereniging voor Ambachts- en Nijverheidskuns". Beeldend BeNeLux Elektronisch (Lexicon). Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  6. ^ Bool, Flip; Visser, Hripsime. Emmy Andriesse 1914-1953. Focus Publishing.
  7. ^ de Haan, Tim (17 April 2025). "De Ondergedoken Camera" [The Underground Camera / The Hidden Camera]. unesco.nl (in Dutch). Dutch UNESCO Committee. Retrieved 24 April 2025. De Ondergedoken Camera is de naam die na de Tweede Wereldoorlog werd gegeven aan een groep Amsterdamse fotografen die, onder leiding van Fritz Kahlenberg en Tonny van Renterghem, op illegale wijze de gevolgen van de Duitse bezetting en het verzet vastlegden. [The Hidden Camera is the name given after World War II to a group of Amsterdam photographers who, led by Fritz Kahlenberg and Tonny van Renterghem, illegally recorded the consequences of the German occupation and resistance.] News item.
  8. ^ "Illegaal fotografisch verzet Tweede Wereldoorlog 'De Ondergedoken Camera' erkend als UNESCO erfgoed" [Illegal photographic resistance during the Second World War. ‘The Underground Camera’ recognised as a UNESCO heritage.]. unesco.nl (in Dutch). Leiden: Leiden University Libraries. 17 April 2025. Retrieved 24 April 2025. News item.
  9. ^ Sandeen, Eric J (1995), Picturing an exhibition : the family of man and 1950s America (1st ed.), University of New Mexico Press, p. 121, ISBN 978-0-8263-1558-8
  10. ^ Steichen, Edward (1955). The family of man : the photographic exhibition. Simon and Schuster with Maco Magazine Corporation for the Museum of Modern Art.
  11. ^ "The Family of Man". moma.org. Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  12. ^ De Gruyter, Willem Jos; Andriesse, Emmy (1953). the World of Van Gogh. OCLC 561159261. 151 pages.
  13. ^ "Emmy Eugenie Andriesse collection guide". 14 April 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  14. ^ "Emmy Andriesse". digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl. Leiden: Leiden University Libraries. Retrieved 24 April 2025. Digitised photographs by Emmy Andriesse, including her contributions to the Underground Camera group.
  15. ^ "Emmy Andriesse. Collection online. Geboren 1914-01-14, Den Haag (NL), Overleden 1953-02-21, Amsterdam (NL)". stedelijk.nl (in Dutch). Amsterdam. Retrieved 24 November 2023.

Further reading

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  • Baring, Louise (2013). Emmy Andriesse - Hidden Lens. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 9789053307908. OCLC 900301980.
  • Rosenblum, Naomi (2014). A history of women photographers (3rd ed.). New York: Abbeville. ISBN 9780789212245.
  • van Santen, Louise (1975). "Emmy Andriesse - a profile". Emmy Andriesse Photographs 1944/52 (Exhibition catalogue). Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum.
  • Visser, Hripsimé (1984), essay in Leijerzapf, Ingeborg Th. (ed.). Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Fotografie (Fotolexicon). Alphen aan den Rijn: Samsom.
  • Visser, Hripsime; Bool, Flip (1994). Emmy Andriesse (1914-1953). Monografieën van Nederlandse fotografen, 4 (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Focus Publishing. ISBN 9789072216908. OCLC 905780813. 134 pages.

Documentaries

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  • Emmy Andriesse, NOS Dutch broadcast television documentary, 30 April 1991.
  • Paul Moody, The Underground Camera (De ondergedoken camera), 1995. Duration 60 min. for Arte, ARD and NCRV.[1]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emmy Andriesse.
  • "Louise Baring: Emmy Andriesse". schiltpublishing.com. Schilt Publishing & Gallery. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 24 April 2025. Emmy Andriesse (1914 - 1953) is one of the most important 20th Century women photographers, best known for her unforgettable portrayal of Amsterdam's Hunger Winter of 1944 - 1945, now emblematic of civilian suffering during the Second World War. Description.
  1. ^ "De ondergedoken camera". filmfestival.nl. Utrecht: Nederlands Filmfestival. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
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