Eva Besnyö's 'The Liberated Camera' at Fotomuseum Den Haag

Fotomuseum Den Haag's retrospective of Eva Besnyö (1910–2003) has been open since early September and runs until 31 January 2027. Eva Besnyö – The Liberated Camera (De bevrijde camera) is based on a collection of her photographs that the museum acquired in 2023. The museum describes it as the largest Besnyö collection in the world.

What is on the walls

The exhibition contains about 200 photographs from that collection. For collectors, the most important detail is that every print was made by Besnyö in the darkroom or under her supervision. These are not later posthumous prints.

The museum.nl listing names several highlights:

• her portrait of a small boy with a double bass
• portraits of artist friends, including Charley Toorop and Violette Cornelius
• her street scene on Starnberger Straße in Berlin, built on the diagonal lines that run through so much of her work

A life in chapters

The show is arranged as a biography. It begins with her first photographs in Budapest and moves on to her formative years in Berlin in the 1930s. From there it follows her to Amsterdam, where she lived and worked. The Second World War has its own place in the story, because her Jewish background left deep marks on her life. So does her involvement with the Dolle Mina feminist movement in the 1970s. The exhibition presents her among contemporaries who moved photography away from painting and towards close, dynamic observation of the real world.

Practical details

The exhibition is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 17:00. There is a €2.50 surcharge on the normal admission price, and Museumkaart holders pay it too. The museum says the money covers the cost of restoring, digitising and researching the collection. DenHaag.com describes the show as one of the largest Besnyö retrospectives ever held.

Several events accompany the exhibition. On Sunday 1 November, from 14:30 to 15:30, Besnyö's daughter Iara Brusse gives a talk about her mother's life and work. The museum's website also has an item on Leo Erken's documentary Eva Besnyö – De keurcollectie.

Why it matters to collectors

Most of us know Besnyö's pictures from the printed page. It is rare to see so many prints made under the photographer's own control in one place. They give you a reference for tone and contrast when you compare the reproductions in her books.

Sources

• Eva Besnyö. De bevrijde camera, museum.nl
• Eva Besnyö - The Liberated Camera, denhaag.com
• Frontpage, Fotomuseum Den Haag