Hellen van Meene: New Work

  • Schirmer/Mosel (August, 2006)
  • English/German edition
  • Text by Els Barents.
  • ISBN: 3829602642
  • ISBN-13: 978-3-8296-0264-8
  • € 29,80

cover of 'Hellen van Meene: New Work' (2006) This book is published by Schirmer/Mosel on the occasion of the exhibition Hellen van Meene New Work at Huis Marseille Amsterdam and Museum Folkwang Essen.

The 41 photographs that make up the book were taken over a period of four years, particularly on travels to England, Latvia, Russia and Japan.

The book is compiled by Els Barents & Ute Eskildsen. Willem van Zoetendaal designed the book and collaborated with Hellen van Meene on the picture editing.

Schirmer/Mosel is a German publisher for fine arts & photography books. They published their first book "August Sander - Rhine River Landscapes" in 1975. Since then they have published many monographs on the work of the famous photographers of the 19th, 20th and 21st century.

From the introduction by Els Barents (Director Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography, Amsterdam):

The photographs that make up her new work were taken over a period of four years, particularly on travels to England, Latvia, Russia and Japan. Along the way, Van Meene's way of working seems to gain spontaneity. More importantly, though, she manages, with flawless intuition, to find her models in many more places than in the vicinity of her home in North Holland. Not only does that yield a greater variety of portrait subjects; the new work also shows that Van Meene can now photograph as easily outdoors as indoors. The result is surprisingly lively. One can only conclude that her work has acquired strength, partly because she has explored and expanded her subject in a natural way. Less staging is done, the props are gone, and the situations in which the work is carried out are more diverse than before. The new work therefore seems to be a beautiful and convincing sequel to the earlier success with which Van Meene's portraits of teenagers were received.