Rees Diepen

photographer

Dutch^[1] b. 12 November 1925, Tilburg^[1,2] d. 14 September 2012, Tilburg^[1,2] active 1956–1990

Rees Diepen (1925–2012) was a Dutch photographer who became renowned for her modern approach to children's photography. Unlike the posed, glamorous portraits common in the mid-20th century, Diepen focused on capturing children in their natural environment at their own eye level, often making herself invisible to ensure candid expressions. She established herself as an independent photographer in Tilburg in 1956 and gained national recognition for her reportage work. In the 1960s, she broke a significant social taboo by photographing children with mental disabilities for the Stichting voor het Kind, producing the influential book 'Dit kind' (1966). Her work is characterized by humanism, focusing on universal emotions like joy and sadness rather than individual identities. She also collected and photographed African sculptures later in her career.^[1,2,3]

• children's photography
• mental disabilities
• humanism
• African sculpture