SELECTED DUTCH PHOTOGRAPHS, 1920s-1960s (lots 215-225) Photography in Holland during the nineteenth century was almost purely documentary in nature, unaware of what later would become a profound awakening to its possibilities. An enormous trend towards modernism prevailed in the 1920s-30s in Holland and photography became a newfound visual tool - first for advertising and design and at wartime for social change, political belief and "illegal" documentation. Piet Zwart (who had already submitted his photograms to the Film und Foto exhibition in 1929) introduced de Nieuwe Fotografie (the New Photography) to the Dutch public mainly by way of his modern photomontage. Highly influential, they were used on posters and postage stamps throughout the country, a completely fresh concept was instilled. The tenets of the New Photography had been set and a small, but fiercely devoted group of photographers emerged. A radical camera angle and experimental techniques were applied in response to the influence of Dada and Surrealism happening in Europe and America. The Avant-Garde exhibition Foto '37 held in Amsterdam became a forerunner for a succession of exhibitions, photographic organizations and publications throughout the country. The onset of World War II sent many into hiding, but a few brave photographers with their hidden cameras, unimpeded by German forces set out to record the catastrophic conditions. Cas Oorthuys and Emmy Andriesse, especially were able to document the starvation and devastation during the occupation, the resistance, the Hunger Winter of 1944-45, and finally the Liberation. Few of these works survive and are considered rare outside of museums or institutions.

EMMY ANDRIESSE (1914-1953)

Untitled (Hunger Winter and Liberation Day Views, WWII, Holland)

Details

EMMY ANDRIESSE (1914-1953)
Untitled (Hunger Winter and Liberation Day Views, WWII, Holland)
4 gelatin silver prints. 1944-45. 1 with copyright credit stamp, 3 with handwritten credit, annotation W.O.II in pencil and publication stamps on the verso.
1 approximately 12 x 9¼in. (30.6 x 23.6cm.); 3 approximately 7 x 7in. (17.7 x 17.7cm.) (4)

Lot Essay

Emmy Andriesse studied in The Hague with Dutch photographers Paul Schuitema and Gerrit Kiljan at the Royal Academy of Art. She and other photographers of the time affiliated themselves with leftist political parties, anti-fascist organizations and the Dutch Communist Party. She became acquainted with photographers Cas Oorthuys and Carel Blazer through the photography and film group of the Union of Artists in Defense of Cultural Rights (BKVK). Skilled in both photography and graphic design, she designed the poster for Foto '37, the exhibition of Avant-Garde photography at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In applying the tenets of the "New Photography" to her work depicting daily life and fashion images, they appeared in many Dutch publications. Along with Cas Oorthuys and others, her powerful work during the Hunger Winter depicts the appalling conditions under which the Dutch lived. At the time of World War II she was forced to go underground, but by 1944 she acquired forged identification papers and was able to subvert her Jewish heritage. It was no longer necessary to wear her star and she was able to take pictures again with her camera concealed in her shopping basket. A member of the Ondergedoken Camera (Underground or Hidden Camera) group, her work was displayed in the exhibition of the same name in 1945. Her work also appeared in Foto '48 and she continued to work in fashion. She died in 1953 at the age of 39 and her work was posthumously represented in the Family of Man exhibition in 1955.