AMSTERDAM.- Annet Gelink Gallery announced its representation of acclaimed photographer Bertien van Manen (1942). With a career spanning over 40 years and a number of legendary photo books to her name - amongst them A hundred summers, a hundred winters - Van Manen is known for her intimate, detailed portraits of life as others live it. Recent exhibitions include a large retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, on view until September 20th, as well as exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland. Her work is part of the collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, MoMA, New York, and Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris amongst others.




Van Manen's first solo exhibition at the gallery will take place in Spring 2020, to coincide with the release of her newest publication.

Van Manen started out photographing her children and family in the '70s, leading to her work as a fashion photographer. After being introduced to the work of Robert Frank and having grown bored of the fashion world, Van Manen aimed her camera at different subjects, developing a more raw, spontaneous and personal approach.

She has documented the daily life of various social groups such as nuns, female migrant workers, and mining communities in the Appalachian Mountains, as well as life in the former Soviet Union and China. Van Manen immerses herself in the places and cultures she photographs, learning the language, living with the people whose lives she documents and forming lasting relationships. To blend into the scenery, Van Manen always works with a small, simple handheld camera. The resulting images display an intimacy and directness that imbue her photographs with the unworldly otherness of lives unimagined. Van Manen's photographs display her ability to make approachable these lives with humanity, warmth and honesty.