Dutch Eyes Lies Wiegman People of Paris Photography

Lies Wiegman was active in several branches of photography: reportage, commercial and free work.

From 1946 to 1949 she attended a course in advertising and photography at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, where her teachers were Gerrit Kiljan, Paul Schuitema and Gerard de Vries.

She began taking photographs in 1951 in Paris, where she spent a few years studying scenic design at the Ecole Paul Colin. In 1952 she went to New York. It is there that she took up photography in earnest, working nights and taking pictures during the day. She could print her photographs at the Village Camera Club, an inspiring place frequented by such photographers as Lisette Model, Cornell Capa, Eugene Smith and Robert Frank.When her tourist visa expired in 1955 she came back to the Netherlands. She earned her living as a photographer and travelled to Central and South America.

In 1962 she published her first children's book, Mijn Lama. It was followed in 1971 by another book for children, De eerste dag (the first day). Her third and last book was Bewaar het land (preserve the land), inspired by a speech delivered by the Indian chief Seattle in 1855 when his homeland was handed over to the white governor Stevens. The book was published in 1980 to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Association of Nature Monuments.

From 1969 to 1986 Lies Wiegman taught at the School of Photography in The Hague. After her retirement she moved to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Her interest in photography has gradually shifted towards video and especially sculpture.

When the boys and girls of the Left Bank went on the pull in the 1950s, Ed Van der Elsken was there to record it, read more ... & see also Ed van der Elsken Paris (with a young Brigitte Bardot) ... & Paris Mortel ...

Van der Keuken (1938) moved from Amsterdam to Paris in 1956 to study at the School of Film, the Institute des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques (Idhec). He was confronted in Paris with life and man's loneliness living in a metropolis. Van der Keuken took thousands of photographs, the city acting as a background to his feelings of desolation. In 1963 a selection of these registrations were published in the book "Paris Mortel," a title that reflects the gloomy undertone of the contents of the book. In this book, Van der Keuken attempted to reflect the complexity of the city. As well as being a photographer, Van der Keuken is also a film maker, but seldom practises both media at the same time. His photography was a breeding ground for his film-making and functions as a "holiday from film making". His films became more and more socially critic in due course, an involvement that had already become apparent in the photo series "Paris Mortel."