Ed van der Elsken

Ed van der Elsken (1925, Amsterdam - 1990, Edam, The Netherlands) lived and worked in Amsterdam. Regarded as the enfant terrible of Dutch photography and one of the most influential image-makers of the twentieth century, van der Elsken expressed his encounters with people in photographs, photo books and films for more than forty years. A pioneer of street photography, his approach was intuitive, confrontational and deeply subjective, taking his own life as a starting point at a time when this was still highly unconventional. His gritty, snapshot-like aesthetic, rooted in direct and personal engagement with his subjects, proved enormously influential in the development of contemporary photography and continues to attract new generations of image-makers.

Van der Elsken began photographing at the end of the 1940s. Like many young Dutch artists of his generation, he left what he perceived as the pettiness of postwar Holland for Paris, where he encountered the bohemian society of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, young people marked by the war, spending their days in bars, living on alcohol and drugs, bitter and desperate. At the suggestion of Edward Steichen, whom he met in Paris in 1953, he turned these photographs into a photographic novel. Love on the Left Bank (1956) made him immediately world famous. Some twenty photo books followed, including Jazz (1959), Sweet Life (1966), Eye Love You (1977) and Once Upon a Time (1981).

Solo exhibitions include Ed van der Elsken: Crazy World, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2020); Sweet Life, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (2019); Lust For Life, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam (2019); Ed van der Elsken through the eyes of Jan de Bont, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2018); Sidewalks, the Bakery, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (2018); Camera in Love, Jeu de Paume, Paris (2017); Camera in Love, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2017); Ed van der Elsken, Fundación Mapfre, Madrid (2018); Ed van der Elsken: "Love" & other stories, Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York (2015); Me and You: Mario Testino and Ed van der Elsken, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (2015); LOOK.ED!, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (2012); Tokyo Symphony, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam (2010); Love on the Left Bank, Metropolitan Museum Tokyo (2003); Ed van der Elsken: Sweet Life. Fotografie + Film 1949-1990, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg (2000); Once Upon a Time, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1991); Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint Germain des Prés, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1983); Eye Love You, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1977); and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1955).

Group exhibitions include Bohemia: History of an Idea, 1950-2000, Kunsthalle Praha, Prague (2023); The Avant-Garde Won't Give Up: COBRA and Its Legacy, Blum & Poe Gallery, Los Angeles (2015); Modern Times, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2014); In the Face of History: European Photographers in the 20th Century, Barbican Art Gallery, London (2006); Documenta X, Kassel (1997); 5 Masters of European Photography, The Photographer's Gallery, London (1973); The Family of Man, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1955); and Post-war European Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1953).

Works held in the collections of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar; and Fotomuseum Den Haag.