Recap: Pioneers – Photography by women

The book Pioneers – Photography by women has been published!

We celebrated this on 12 November 2024 during the book launch at the National Archives, where Cathelijne Blok talked to authors Elwin Hendrikse and Saskia Asser and designer Els Kerremans. Director of the National Archives Afelonne Doek also handed the first copy to Joumana El Zein Khoury, director of World Press Photo Foundation.

About the book

Women have been active as photographers since the invention of photography in 1839. Still, their work has so far received much less attention than that of their male colleagues. From the more than 15 million photographs stored in the Dutch National Archives in The Hague, the editors of Pioneers – Photography by Women selected work of 42 women created between 1859 and 1999. This special selection gives an impression of the richness and diversity of the extensive photo collection. This way, they show the important role these women played within photography.

In Pioneers you discover well-known and lesser-known photographers from the Netherlands and abroad. You will see and learn more about the work of Yva, Gerda Taro, Margaret Bourke-White, Eve Arnold, Dickey Chapelle, Christine Spengler, Emmy Andriesse, Eva Besnyö and Bertien van Manen, among others. Their work is highlighted through a variety of themes: from photography at the front and socially engaged reportage to recording the women’s movement and the struggle for women’s emancipation. In all genres of photography, these women played an important role as innovators, trailblazers and forerunners. All of them can be described as innovators whose work paved the way for future generations of photographers.

Photography: Arenda Oomen