Wally Elenbaas & Esther Hartog

This is the first photographic survey of Rotterdam artist Wally Elenbaas (1912–2008) and his great love Esther (‘Es’) Hartog (1905– 1998). Although Elenbaas became best known after the war for his graphic work, paintings and monumental work, he began his artistic career with photography.

In the early 1930s, the socially engaged Elenbaas joined the Association of Worker Photographers. The photographs he took during the crisis years – of street scenes and unemployment demonstrations, alternating with abstract images – display all the characteristics of the New Photography. Elenbaas was one of the first Dutch photographers to experiment with surrealistic techniques. After the occupation period, Esther Hartog also took up photography. This resulted in a series of exceptional, partly jointly made nude photos. Due to legal proceedings, these remained hidden for a long time. However, in hindsight their intimate imagery, now on display beside the nude photography of Ed van der Elsken, Gerard Fieret and Sanne Sannes, is an important milestone in the history of Dutch photography.