Emmy Andriesse: Hidden Lens

Emmy Andriesse (1914 - 1953) is one of the most important 20th century women photographers, best known for her indelible portrayal of Amsterdam's Hunger Winter of 1944 - 1945, now emblematic of civilian suffering during the Second World War. Andriesse was born into a liberal Dutch Jewish family. She was trained at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague under the aegis of Gerrit Kiljan and Paul Schuitema who pioneered the "New Photography", based on Bauhaus principles - as well as encouraging students to experiment with its role as a documentary medium. Her rigorous yet sensitive approach enabled her to produce images of unusual poetic power, while her versatile fashion, documentary, portrait and landscape photographs reveal her curiosity about her fellow human beings and sense of beauty in the world around her.