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

Early life and education

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. From 1932 to 1937, after high school, Andriesse studied advertising design at the

Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague The Royal Academy of Art (KABK, nl, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten) is an art and design academy in The Hague. Succeeding the ''Haagsche Teeken-Academie'' (part of the Confrerie Pictura), the academy was founded on 29 September 1682, ...

founded in 1929 by designer . At the academy she belonged to a group of students around left-wing designer

Paul Schuitema Geert Paul Hendrikus Schuitema (; 27 February 1897 – 25 October 1973) was a Dutch graphic artist. He also designed furniture and expositions and worked as photographer, film director, painter and teacher for publicity design at the Royal Ac ...

. 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. In her final years of study, 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 Ijzerman and Lex Metz. In this environment Andriesse and her friends came into contact with International Red Aid and various anti-fascist artists' organizations. Andriesse was a member of Nederlandsche Vereeniging voor Ambachts- en Nijverheidskunst (V.A.N.K.) the Dutch Association for Craft and Craft Art.

War years and the 'Underground Camera'

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 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''. 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. AndriesseVolendam1945.jpg, Volendam July 1945 AndriesseEmmyVolendam1945.jpg, EmmyAndriesseVolendam1945-4.jpg, AndriesseRijksmuseum1.jpg, ''

The Love Letter (Vermeer) ''The Love Letter'' ( nl, De liefdesbrief) is a 17th-century genre painting by Jan Vermeer. The painting shows a servant maid commenting to her mistress on a letter the woman holds. The painting is in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Description The ...

''
(Rijksmuseum July 1945) De Anatomische les van dr. J. Deijman van Rembrandt, Bestanddeelnr 900-5341.jpg, '' The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman'' back in the Rijksmuseum
(July 1945)

Post-war

After the war, she became a fashion photographer and was an associate and mentor of

Ed van der Elsken Eduard van der Elsken (10 March 1925 – 28 December 1990) was a Dutch photographer and filmmaker. His imagery provides quotidian, intimate and autobiographic perspectives on the European zeitgeist spanning the period of the Second World War ...

. She participated in the group show ''Photo '48'' and in 1952, together with ,

Eva Besnyö Éva Besnyő (1910–2003) was a Dutch-Hungarian photographer who participated in the ''Nieuwe Fotografie'' (New Photography) movement. Biography Born in Budapest, Besnyö was brought up in a well-to-do Jewish home. In 1928, she started to study ...

and Cas Oorthuys, the exhibition ''Photographie'', both in Amsterdam's

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

. Edward Steichen chose her 1947 portrait of a staid and elderly Dutch couple for the section 'we two form a multitude' in the Museum of Modern Art world-touring '' The Family of Man'' that was seen by an audience of 9 million. More recently (October 2006-January 2007) she was included in a display of Twentieth Century European photography at the Barbican Art Gallery, London. Andriesse's last commission, the book ''The World of Van Gogh'' - published posthumously in 1953 - was not yet complete when she became ill and after a long battle with cancer, died at the age of 39. At Harbor Island East in Amsterdam, the Emmy Andriessestraat is named after her.

References

External links

Biography
(Dutch)
Photobook with biography
(English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Andriesse, Emmy 1914 births 1953 deaths Dutch people of World War II Dutch resistance members Photographers from The Hague Dutch women photographers 20th-century Dutch women artists 20th-century Dutch photographers 20th-century women photographers

Early life and education

War years and the 'Underground Camera'

Post-war

References

Further reading

External links