Hellen van Meene
Christiane Kuhlmann
Abstract
From the start of her career as a photographer, Hellen van Meene has worked on portraits of young women, girls, and androgynous boys. While her photos are serene and intimate, beneath the fragile surface lies an exceptional strength and intensity. Van Meene’s emphasis rests not on the character, but rather on the individual that expresses a mood or feeling. In her staged works, the boundaries between fiction and reality become blurred. In doing so, Van Meene unveils something of the vulnerability and inner world of people in her work.
Biography
|
1972 |
Hellen van Meene is born on 28 September in Alkmaar. |
|
1992 |
Van Meene enrols in the photography department at the Gcrrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, where she receives instruction from Leo Divendal, Frido Troost, and Willem van Zoetendaal. |
|
1995 |
Van Meene studies for one semester at the College of Art in Edinburgh, Scotland. |
|
1996 |
Van Meene completes her studies at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. |
|
1998 |
Van Meene receives a starting stipend from the BKVB (Fonds voor Beeldende Kunst, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst, ‘Fund for Fine Art, Design and Architecture’). She has her first solo exhibition in the same year. |
|
1999 |
Van Meene receives the Charlotte Köhler Prize from the Prins Bernhard Cultural Fund. |
|
2000 |
The Japan Foundation invites Van Meene to make a series in Tokyo on the theme City of Girls for the Japanese pavilion at the Architecture Biënnale in Venice, Italy. |
|
2001 |
Van Meene is nominated for the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize, awarded since 1996, together with the American artist Roni Horn, Boris Mikhailov, Hannah Starkey, and Jem Southam. |
|
2003 |
Van Meene is able to produce her Folkwangserie through a stipend from the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany, and the Förderverein der Fotografischen Sammlung (‘Friends of the Photographic Collection’). The series consists of portraits of primarily young female students of ‘dance’ at Folkwang University in Essen. |
|
2006 |
Van Meene’s portraits of British teenage mothers are exhibited at the Pump House Gallery in London. |
|
2008 |
Van Meene presents a master class at the invitation of the ‘FotoDepartament’ photography centre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Van Meene becomes a member of the World Photographic Academy, an international organisation of photographers, curators, and gallery owners. |
Discussion
A Sense of You, Created by Me is the title Hellen van Meene devised for her exhibition in 2006 in Tokyo. The title can serve as the theme and motto for her entire oeuvre, as it precisely describes the heart of the matter in her representations of people. Van Meene portrays no one specifically, nor is she trying to capture the character of a person through photography. She develops her own ‘narrative’ and concept based on her subjects, whom she views as ‘models’. Van Meene developed her working approach while still a student at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. It continues as a common feature in her later work.
Van Meene belongs to a younger generation of Dutch photographers that likewise includes Céline van Balen, Anuschka Blommers and Niels Schumm, and Carla van de Puttelaar. While most began photographing only fifteen years ago, by this time their professional work has now gained international renown. Van Meene’s work from this period can be subdivided into different phases. The themes have remained more or less the same. The working approach, however, has altered visibly, resulting in clear shifts in style.
Van Meene initially worked with women or girls as her models, but quite quickly as well with boys. She gleaned most of her models from her immediate surroundings. During this early phase, Van Meene also kept a ‘catalogue’ of photo models, from which she was able to choose a suitable figure in order to realise a given idea or theme. Between 1992 and 2000, she produced various photos in which one and the same model was depicted, whom she placed time and again in different settings. In a conversation with Karel Schampers regarding her figures, Van Meene stated: ‘I treat the models in actuality as objects that you can direct and lead. It is purely material.’ Van Meene relies on the external bodily and physical characteristics as a starting point for a unique representation. Consequently, her photos are likewise associated with depersonalised fashion photography. She is interested in the structure and texture of naked flesh as a visual element, but also in the changes that occur when subjected to light or cold water. In doing so, Van Meene leaves nothing to chance: she arranges not only the clothing, the draping of fabric, the hair, and the spatial surroundings, but also the direction of the person’s glance and his pose. This visual method is complex. Suitable materials have to be gathered for each photo, with the model being one element among others. One could say that Van Meene ‘draws’ moods and emotions, while the depiction of her own emotion also has its place.
When invited in 2000 to create work based on the theme City of Girls for the Japanese pavilion at the Architecture Biënnale in Venice, Van Meene changed her working method. Representing something she had never before approached in such a manner and disorientation then became the determining factors. What had been her method during the first eight years of her career—specifically, the execution of an idea by means of carefully selected figures—had to change. Improvisation and swift decision-making now determined how she was to deal with her models. In this much more ephemeral contact, Van Meene sought after people with whom she was able to work and who in turn trusted her. But even in this new work, she remained loyal to her basic idea of representing these young models according to her own vision. It seems as if Van Meene has an infallible sense of surrounding people with a certain aura. She re-models her figures for her portraits, in the truest sense of the word. During these generally brief moments on the street, Van Meene eliminates details and accessories and reveals only that which she sees in front of her. Following her first trip to Japan, a second trip followed. This time her trip was at the invitation of the New York Times Magazine in 2005. Van Meene also traveled to Russia, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Germany, Morocco, and the United States, where she photographed portrait series of teenagers, on the street or by appointment. In the UK, she portrayed teenage mothers. Prior to 2000, Van Meene applied the title Untitled to all of her work, identified further simply by a working number. After 2000, Van Meene expanded the title to include the name of a city or country.
In her earliest work, Van Meene depicts models sometimes isolated in a large and empty landscape, or imprisoned in a mesh of gnarled branches and shrubs, or sometimes directly in front of a background that resembles an imposing barrier. In her portraits, she looks meticulously for traces of the puberal stage in life, which conveys something of the fears, doubts, vulnerabilities, and insecurities that one encounters on the way to becoming an adult. For this purpose, Van Meene turns to classical, symbolic visual elements and attributes. She adds makeup to faces with nail polish or lipstick in order to add a desired expression or to alter the mouth and eyes. She employs transparent or wet fabrics, beneath which changes in the body become visible. Or she depicts little girls in a size of underwear for which they are yet too small.
In her interiors, Van Meene compresses the space and strongly enhances the impression of being enclosed. Windows provide no views, but rather boundaries. As such, Van Meene places the accent on isolation, on a dream world, and emphasises the vulnerability of her models. In later photos shot during her travels, she heightens the ‘discovered’ details, which she feels make that particular individual into an exceptional model. By means of a certain pose, the physical appearance, and the facial expression, Van Meene addresses the confrontations of desires and pre-conceived notions that in no way correspond with the real world.
Hellen van Meene uses a 1966 model Rolleiflex 2.8F 1966 with a Zeiss lens Planar 1:2,8 f=80 mm for her 6×6 cm negatives. For some of her shots, she takes polaroid photos in advance with an SX-70 Land Camera Alpha, a practice she began in 2004, often to convey to her models what she is trying to achieve or to see how the lighting works. These polaroids form a separate category in her overall oeuvre. Since 2007, she has been working on 6×12, and as well with a panorama camera and Cambo Wide. Van Meene always photographs in natural light, without flash or extra spots. Light is given substantial importance in her work: it highlights, it erases, dramatises, and demarcates. The prints are C-prints.
In addition to the panorama format, Van Meene has also retained the small square format of 30×30 cm or 40×40 cm with which she started out, prompting the observer to reduce his distance. Unaccustomed to examining a stranger in the close proximity evoked by Van Meene’s form of presentation, people are of often deterred by such a confrontation. The observer is drawn directly into an intimate world and faced with a certain degree of intensity.
In the book Portraits, Kate Bush positions Van Meene’s work in the photographic tradition in which the image of the individual is subordinated to the dramatic representation of an idea. She compares Van Meene’s work to that of Julia Margaret Cameron. With both photographers, the specific power of expression and physical presence radiated by a model serve as the starting point for the visual transformation of their own conception. Van Meene herself cites the work of Francesca Woodman as a source of inspiration. Her use of natural light is intentional.
Van Meene began her professional career at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, at a time when Willem van Zoetendaal was introducing new aspects after having taken over the department of photographic design in 1992. Zoetendaal drew instructors and photographers to the school, including Rineke Dijkstra, Koos Breukel, Paul Kooiker, Bertien van Maanen, and Annaleen Louwes. Judging by the teaching staff alone, it is no surprise that the emphasis lay on forms of ‘portrait photography’. In 2006, Van Meene—together with other photographers of her generation, e.g. Céline van Balen, Anuschka Blommers and Niels Schumm, Arno Nollen, and Carla van de Puttelaar—was presented as a representative of current contemporary photography in the Netherlands at the exhibition Netherlands Now, held at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (‘European House of Photography’) in Paris, France.
It is clear that Van Meene started out her professional career at a time when the accent had once again shifted to the photographed image of humanity, enabling her to develop her own style in this respect. Since 2007, Van Meene has been working with a panorama camera. For her prints, she prefers a horizontal format of 40×80 cm. Van Meene initially fell back on trusted elements by having young girls pose in the Dutch landscape. In 2007, she produced group shots of young people in New Orleans, with the surroundings presented much sharper. At first, the observer might mistake these photos for documentary images. But here too, Van Meene’s staged signature can easily be distinguished. In 2007 and 2008, other series also emerged with descriptive titles such as Ophelia and Pool of Tears. This latter series is an episode from Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, for which Julia Margaret Cameron has also made photographic illustrations. Van Meene’s innovation is that, in doing so, she elaborates on a literary tradition. In the framework of the same series, she also produced still-lifes and interior photos.
Over the years, Van Meene has worked on a series of sometimes unsettling—impersonal—portraits, which in a more general sense can be referred to as ‘images of humanity’. During the exhibition Botticelli in de polder (‘Botticelli in the Polder’) that appeared in 2000 in Milan, Italy, Hripsimé Visser explained that Van Meene’s portraits in fact symbolise a frame of mind: ‘Children and young women with all the (im-) perfections of puberty, with that typical blend of awkwardness and grace, of impertinence and sensuality, of vulnerability and pride, of loneliness and longing.’
Documentation
Primary bibliography
(eigen publicaties: tekst, eventueel met foto’s, maar ook fotoboeken e.d.)
Hellen van Meene, Untitled, Milaan (Gabrius) 2000.
Catalogus tent. Hellen van Meene, Haarlem (De Hallen) 2002.
Karel Schampers (tekst), Hellen van Meene. New Photos Japan, Keulen (Waker König) 2002.
Kate Bush (tekst). Hellen van Meene. Portraits, New York (Aperture) 2004 (idem Duitse ed.: München (Schirmer/Mosel) 2004).
Catalogus tent. Hellen van Meene, New work, München (Schirmer/Mosel) 2006.
Hellen van Meene, Tout va disparaître = Everything will pass, München (Schirmer/Mosel) 2009.
(foto’s in boeken, tijdschriften en ander drukwerk)
Peter Nijhof, Lammert Prins, Daan van Rijn (tekst). Dijken, Rotterdam (Duo/Duo) 1996 (serie: Water in Nederland 3).
Hellen van Meene, De jeugd, in De Revisor 24 (december 1997) 5/6, p. 65-72.
Catalogus tent. The beauty of intimacy. Lens and paper. Den Haag (Gemeentemuseum Den Haag) 2000, p. 16-89, 171.
Els Barents e.a. (red.), KPN collectie fotografie, Amsterdam (Huis Marseille, stichting voor fotografie) 2001, p. 35, 112.
Willem van Zoetendaal, Guaranteed Real Dutch Photomagazine 1, Amsterdam (Basalt Publishers) 2001, afb. 4.
Blind Spot (2001) 19.
de Volkskrant 20 september 2001, Forum, p. 7.
AH, ‘De energie is er nu’. Foam-directeur Marloes Kreijnen wil putten uit bestaande fotocollecties, in de Volkskant 13 december 2001.
Marc Coetzee, Not afraid. Rubell Family Collection, Londen etc. (Phaidon) 2004, p. 174-175, 239.
Kalender Kunstcollectie Rabobank 2005, augustus.
Pop Magazine (herfst/winter 2005) 11.
Geo [Duitse editie] september 2005, p. 134-158.
Art Magazine (2006) 79/80.
LABEL magazine voorjaar 2006.
Nike voorjaar 2006.
Photoworks voorjaar 2006.
Florian Ebner, Sehen Zeigen [Ute Eskildsen zum 60. Geburtstag], z.p. [Göttingen] (Steidl) 2007, p. 54-55.
Gert Eijkelboom e.a. (red.). Eigenlijk eigentijds. Uit de kunstcollectie van De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam (De Nederlandsche Bank) 2007, p. 184, 257.
Kid’s Wear Fashion, Life and Culture (voorjaar 2007) 24.
The New Yorker 82 (13 februari 2009) 1, p. 151.
Secondary bibliography
(publicaties over de fotograaf en/of haar werk)
Catalogus tent. Scanning. Toegepaste kunst en fotografie in Amsterdam 1996, Amsterdam (Stedelijk Museum) 1996, ongepag.
Jhim Lamoree, Scanning zapt en surft door vormgeving en fotografie, in Het Parool 29 oktober 1996, p. 6.
Anoniem, Stedelijk koopt aan uit Scanning 1996, in Het Parool 13 december 1996, p. 11.
Catalogus Noorderlicht 1997, Groningen (Stichting Aurora Borealis) 1997, 180-181, 252.
Conny Taheij, Nieuwe kunstenaars in trek. Art Primeur nog twee dagen in CBK, in De Dordtenaar 10 mei 1997.
Andrea Bosman, Noorderlicht, in Trouw 11 september 1997, KK, p. 16.
Eddie Marsman, Het paradijs op de foto, in Leeuwarder Courant 19 september 1997.
Eddie Marsman, Meeslepende foto’s van vrouwen in paradijzen, in NRC Handelsblad 22 september 1997.
Catalogus Kunst Aanmoedingsprijs Amstelveen 1998. Fotografie, z.p. [Amsterdam] (Uitgeverij De Balie i.s.m. Stichting Kunst Aanmoedigingsprijs Amstelveen en het Sandberg Instituut) 1998, ongepag. (met foto’s).
Jhim Lamoree, De miniplaybackshow van Hellen van Meene, in Het Parool 30 oktober 1998, PS, p. 10.
Kirsten Algera e.a. (red.). Uitgelicht 3. Startstipendia beeldende kunst 97/98, Amsterdam (Stichting Fonds voor beeldende kunsten, vormgeving en bouwkunst) 1999.
Catalogus 5 jaar Art Primeur, Beek-Ubbergen/Dordrecht (Stichting Art Primeur/Centrum voor Beeldende Kunst Dordrecht) 1999, p. 30-31, 50.
Catalogus tent. Hellen van Meene, Amsterdam/Londen/Middelburg (Galerie Paul Andriesse/The Photographers Gallery/Vleeshal) 1999.
Catalogus tent. Human conditions intimate portraits = Conditions humaines portraits intimes, Rotterdam (Nederlands Foto Instituut) 1999, p. 014-023, Nederlandstalige bijlage (met foto’s).
Catalogus Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal 1999. Le souci du document. (Concern for the Document), Montréal (VOX) 1999, p. 146, 149-150. 157. 213-214.
John Tozer, Hellen van Meene. The Photographers’ Gallery, London, 6.8-18.9.1999, in Camera Austria (1999) 67, p. 80-81.
Anoniem, Charlotte Köhler-prijzen toegekend, in Het Parool 9 maart 1999.
Catalogus tent. Quinze en Europe. La jeune photographie européenne, Nice (Théatre de la Photographie et de l’Image) 2000, p. 48-55 (met foto’s).
[Folder] Hripsimé Visser, Hellen van Meene. Botticelli in the Low Lands = Hellen van Meene. Botticelli nei polders, Milaan (Galleria Laura Pecci/Le Case d’Arte) februari 2000.
Joep Eijkens, ‘Schoonheid van het onvolkomene’, in Brabants Dagblad 5 februari 2000.
Joep Eijkens, Portretten van Hellen van Meene in Rotterdam en Middelburg, in Eindhovens Dagblad 17 februari 2000.
Hans den Hartog Jager, Ontluikende meisjes maken misselijk, in NRC Handelsblad 17 februari 2000, Kunst, p. 11.
Robbert Roos, Fuksas bepleit nieuwe mentaliteit. Biennale Architectuur. Er is meer dan esthetische buitenkant, in Trouw 17 juni 2000, De Verdieping, Kunst, p. 27.
Mirelle Thijsen, Kwetsbare meisjes. Foto’s van Hellen van Meene bij galerie Paul Andriesse, in Het Financieele Dagblad 24 juni 2000.
Max van Rooy, Rotmeiden tussen beeldschone bouwsels. De zevende Architectuur Biennale in Venetië, in NRC Handelsblad 7 juli 2000.
Karin Veraart, Angst voor de ijdelheid. De portrettist en zijn model, in de Volkskrant 28 december 2000, Kunst en cultuur, p. 21.
Catalogus tent. The Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize 2001, Londen (The Photographers’ Gallery) 2001.
Catalogus tent. Strategies. Fotografie der neunziger Jahre. Sammlung Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Zürich (Edition Oehrli) 2001, p. 88-91, 142 (met foto’s).
Marianne Vermeijden, ‘Iets imponeert mij niet snel’. Gesprek met kunstverzamelaar Joris Loudon, in NRC Handelsblad 8 februari 2001.
Arno Haijtema, Waarom moet ik dit zien. Photographers’ Gallery toont kandidaten Citibank-fotoprijs, in de Volkskrant 1 maart 2001.
Peter van Brummelen, Gods eigen studio, in Het Parool 8 december 2001.
Arno Haijtema, Geleend van Vermeer, in de Volkskrant 13 december 2001.
Maro Ziegler, Fotomuseum Foam opent schuchter, in De Telegraaf 18 december 2001.
Antonia Carver (projectred.). Blink. 100 photographers, 010 curators, 010 writers, Londen etc. (Phaidon Press) 2002, p. 236-239, 417 (met foto’s).
Catalogus tent. PHE02 Femeninos, Madrid (Ayuntamiento de Madrid) 2002.
Wim van Sinderen, Fotografen in Nederland. Een anthologie 1852-2002, Amsterdam/Gent/Den Haag (Ludion/ Fotomuseum Den Haag) 2002, p. 250-251.
Anoniem, Interview Hellen van Meene 13-11-2001, in Foam Magazine (januari 2002) 1, omslag, binnenzijde omslag, p. 4-7 (met foto’s).
Sandra Smallenburg, Kunstcollectie KPN als cultureel erfgoed, in NRC Handelsblad 26 januari 2002, Economie/Achtergrond, p. 14.
Iris Dik (tekst), Het nieuwe verzamelen, in Avenue (april/mei 2002) 2, p. 42-49.
Gert Jan Pos, Vijftig keer veelbelovend, in Elsevier (20 april 2002) 16, p. 22-33.
Machteld van Hulten, ‘Meisjes uit glossy’s bestaan niet, de mijne wel’, in de Volkskrant 20 april 2002, Kunst, p. 7.
Roos Tesselaar, Waren ze maar echt. Fotografe Hellen van Meene gefascineerd door pubers, in Algemeen Dagblad 25 april 2002, Er uit!, p. 29.
Willem Ellenbroek, Een wereld van verschil. ‘Blink’ maakt geen onderscheid tussen oost en west. Het boek dwingt je je eigen overzicht samen te stellen. Regionaal gerangschikt, op genre, op zwart-wit en kleur, op engagement en betrokkenheid, in de Volkskrant 25 juli 2002, Kunst katern, p. K2.
Anoniem, Per Saldo. Honderd kunstwerken uit de collectie ABN AMRO, in Het Financieele Dagblad 9 november 2002.
Pay-Uun Hiu, Een soort botheid. Jongste lichting Nederlandse fotografen op Paris Photo. ‘Het is een Vermeer. Daar doen die drie hedendaagse oorbelletjes niets aan af’, in de Volkskrant 14 november 2002, Kunst katern, p. K10.
Krista Oldenburg, Niet meteen grote namen. Hanneke Wittekamp. Verzamelaar, in de Volkskrant 31 december 2002, Observatorium, p. 8.
2002 Guide to Galleries. Museum. Artists, Art in America. Annual 2002-2003, p. 62 (no. 1249), 179 (no. 3960).
Catalogus tent. Child in time. Visies van hedendaagse kunstenaars op jeugd en adolescentie. Helmond (Gemeentemuseum Helmond) 2003, p. 32.
Ute Eskildsen, Ein Bilderbuch. Die fotografische Sammlung im Museum Folkwang, Göttingen (Steidl) 2003, p. 274, 282.
Liesbeth Grotenhuis (samenstelling), Stoute vrouwen. 19e eeuwse schilderkunst als inspiratie voor het vrouwbeeld in hedendaagse (Nederlandse) fotografie, Groningen/ [Venlo] (Gasunie/Van Spijk Art Projects) 2003, p. 60-61 (met foto’s).
Anoniem, Van Meene toont broze periode van jonge pubers. Foto’s CBKN, in De Gelderlander 27 juni 2003.
Mirelle Thijsen, Zeer productieve beeldmakers, in NRC Handelsblad 19 oktober 2003.
Isabella Werkhoven, Sharon Stone en een beugelbekkie, in Dagblad van het Noorden 28 november 2003.
Catalogus tent. Kurzdavordanach. Gegenwart als Zwischenraum, Keulen (Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur) 2004.
Charlotte Cotton, The photograph as contemporary art, Londen /New York (Thames & Hudson) 2004, p. 32-33.
Ute Eskildsen, “Was ich von ihnen gesehen und was man mir von ihnen erzählt hatte”. Der fotografierte Mensch in Bildern der Fotografischen Sammlung im Museum Folkwang, Göttingen (Steidl) 2004, p. 54, 146.
Carmen Freudenthal en Elle Verhagen, WonderHolland, Amsterdam (Artimo) 2004, p. 41, 44-45.
Sandra Smallenburg, Galerie wil geld om vertrek fotografe, in NRC Handelsblad 10 maart 2004, Kunst, p. 7.
Seada Nourhussen, Galerie en kunstenaar strijden. De galeriewereld kent geen contracten, alleen gentlemens agreements, in de Volkskrant 10 maart 2004.
Anoniem, Galerie wint van fotografe, in NRC Handelsblad 11 maart 2004, Kunst, p. 11.
Sandra Smallenburg, Uitspraak goed voor galeries, in NRC Handelsblad 11 maart 2004, Kunst, p. 11.
Anoniem, Galeriehouder wint rechtszaak tegen fotografe, in de Volkskant 11 maart 2004, Kunst, p. 17.
Seada Nourhussen en Joost Ramaer, Overwinningsnederlaag?, in de Volkskrant 12 maart 2004, Kunst, p. 17.
Charlotte Cotton, Between friends, in Pop Magazine (voorjaar/zomer 2004) 8, p. 24, 258-265.
Karel Ankerman, Onverschrokken kunstverzamelaars, in Het Financieele Dagblad 10 april 2004.
Merel Bem, Zoek de ziel, in de Volkskrant 31 december 2004, Observatorium, p. 5.
Manon Berendse (eindred.), Unlocked # 2. rabo kunstcollectie = art collection, Eindhoven (Rabobank Nederland, afd. Kunstzaken) 2005, p. 92-93, 297.
Jennifer Blessing, Family pictures. Fotografia contemporanea e video della collezione del Guggenheim Museum = Contemporary photography and video from the collection of the Guggenheim Museum, Lugano (Galleria Gottardo) 2005, p. 122-126, 140-141 (met foto’s).
Susan Bright, Art Photography Now, Londen (Thames & Hudson) 2005, p. 22-23, 221 (met foto’s).
Catalogus tent. Cadres revisités. Chefs d’œuvre de la photographie néerlandaise présentés dans les cadres anciens de la Collection Frits Lugt, Parijs (Fondation Custodia) 2005, p. 40, afb. A (serie: Exposition-dossier VII) (Eng. ed.: Frames Revisited. Masterpieces of Dutch portrait photography shown in antique frames from the Collection Frits Lugt).
Catalogus tent. In sight. Contemporary Dutch photography from the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Stedelijk Museum) 2005, p. 20, 108-113 (met foto’s).
Rik Fernhout en Marjolein Menalda (eindred.), Bronnen. Bergen, De Bergense School en de Berger Scholengemeenschap, Bergen (Museum Kranenburgh) 2005, p. 4 (serie: Cahier. Museum Kranenburgh, nr. 16).
Rina Hendriks e.a. (tekstred.), Constructed Moment, Den Bosch (Stichting KW14) 2005, p. 163-165 (met foto’s).
Joep Eijkens, Fotoboeken. Van Hellen van Meene tot New York, in De Fotograaf (2005) 1, p. 63.
Anky Floris, Hellen van Meene neemt zichzelf mee. Alkmaarse topfotografe geeft lezing bij Zwaan & Ter Burg, in Alkmaar op zondag 18 (30 januari 2005), p. 1.
Anne van Driel, Beïnvloedt zaak-Lamers de kunst?, in de Volkskrant 9 februari 2005.
Roel van Leeuwen, ‘Bronnen’: Bergen als broedplaats, in Noorhollands Dagblad 19 februari 2005, Stad en streek, p. 3.
Marjan Teeuwen, Marjan Teeuwen nooit op de automatische piloot, in Brabants Dagblad 22 februari 2005.
Gerrit van den Hoven, ‘Luie schilders’ zetten werkelijkheid naar hun hand, in Brabants Dagblad 28 februari 2005.
Alan G. Artner, Missed moment for Dutch photos. Art Institute’s exhibit too late, out of context; collection loses impact, in Chicago Tribune 31 maart 2005.
Anoniem, Portfolio Tokyo Girls, in The New York Times Magazine 3 april 2005.
Mirelle Thijsen, Alledaags sober, in Het Financieele Dagblad 9 april 2005.
Madame Figaro Japon (mei 2005) 295, p. 129.
Merel Bem, Dames die zich niet laten vangen door camera of penseel, in de Volkskrant 29 juni 2005
Geo Magazin september 2005, p. 134-158.
Sandra Smallenburg, Hellen van Meene: ‘Ophelia ligt heel mooi dood te zijn’, in NRC Handelsblad 2, december 2005, Magazine, p. 82.
Ellen Besselink (concept en vormgeving), Kunst op Kamers 2006, De Rijp (Stichting Kunst op Kamers) 2006, p. 79-83, bijlage Installaties, ongepag.
Catalogus tent. Netherlands Now. L’école du Nord, Paris (Editions du Regard) 2006, p. 8, 84-87, 116.
Martin Parr en Gerry Badger, The Photobook: A History (volume II), Londen etc. (Phaidon Press) 2006, p. 84.
Veilingcatalogus Sotheby’s Photographs Amsterdam 21 March 2006, Amsterdam (Sotheby’s) 2006, lot 240, 243.
Matthias Groll, Hellen van Meene, in European Photography (2006) 79/80, p. 54-63 (met foto’s).
Claudia Gochmann, [artikel over tentoonstelling Cadres revisités], in Photography Now (januari/februari/maart 2006) 1.
Basia Sokolowska, Hot Shows: Hellen van Meene/New Works, in HotShoe International (februari/maart 2006) 141, p. 68-69 (met foto’s).
Anoniem, Van Meene’s teen scene, in Pop (voorjaar/zomer 2006) 12, p. 118.
Diane Smyth, The wonder years, in The British Journal Of Photography 153 (5 april 2006) 7577, p. 3, 16-18.
Vince Aletti, Hellen van Meene – New Work, in Photoworks (mei/oktober 2006) 6, p. 12-19.
Gea Politi, Hellen van Meene. Between fact and fiction, in Flash Art 39 (mei/juni 2006) 248, p. 136.
Anoniem, Palmen in de polder, in De Telegraaf 24 mei 2006, p. 17.
Anne Berk, Paradijs in de polder, in Het Financieele Dagblad 27 mei 2006, Cultuur, p. 20.
Arend Evenhuis, Eerst de lasso, dan de camera. Fotografe Hellen van Meene overrompelt haar modellen op straat, in Trouw 4 september 2006.
Edo Dijksterhuis, Venster op de volwassenheid, in Het Financieele Dagblad 9 september 2006, Cultuur, p. 25.
Machteld Leij, Van Meene heeft scherpe blik voor opvallende gezichten, in NRC Handelsblad 11 september 2006.
Anoniem, Hellen van Meene, in NRC Handelsblad 14 september 2006, Agenda, p. 19.
Rutger Pontzen, Puberen met zwangerschapsstriemen, in de Volkskrant 22 september 2006, Kunst, p. 15.
Riet van der Linden, Tieners te kijk, in Opzij 1 november 2006.
Erik Thijssen, ‘Het moet geen afzeikavond worden’. Fotografe Hellen van Meene wast jonge collega’s de oren tijdens Museumnacht-masterclass, in de Volkskrant 6 november 2006, Kunst, p. 12.
Christiane Kuhlmann, Hellen van Meene. Portraits, in Photonews 18/19 (december 2006/ januari 2007) 1/12 , p. 8-9 (met foto’s).
Anoniem, Museum verwerft 1100 portretten, in Gelders Dagblad 23 december 2006.
Flip Bool e.a. (red.). Nieuwe geschiedenis van de fotografie in Nederland. Dutch Eyes, Zwolle (Waanders i.s.m. Stichting Fotografie in Nederland) 2007, p. 26, 29, 467, 469 (idem Engelse editie: A critical history of photography in The Netherlands. Dutch Eyes).
Sandra Jongenelen, Boekenkast. Hellen van Meene, in Kunstbeeld 32 (2007) 2, p. 92.
Anoniem, Agenda, in NRC Handelsblad 1 maart 2007.
Rosan Hollak, Het meisje met het hondje. Kiek Hellen van Meene, in NRC Handelsblad 16 maart 2007, Cultureel Supplement, p. 25.
Merel Bem, Opmerkelijke parallellen, in de Volkskrant 19 april 2007, Kunst, p. 10-11.
Isabel Dupuis, Hellen van Meene. Yancey Richardson Gallery, in Flash Art 40 (mei/ juni 2007) 254, p. 134.
Riki Simons, Ranglijst. Top-100 van Nederlandse kunstenaars. Editie 2007, in Elsevier 63 (12 mei 2007) 19, p. 88-98.
Jhim Lamoree, Beelden van verweesde pubers. Sarfati meet met de menselijke maat en oordeelt niet, in Het Parool 26 mei 2007, Kunst, p. 41.
Anoniem, Koos Breukel, in NRC Handelsblad 5 juli 2007, Agenda, p. 21.
E. Dijksterhuis, Fotografenfotograaf, in Het Financieele Dagblad 11 augustus 2007.
Anoniem, Binnenstebuiten, in Leidsch Dagblad 27 september 2007.
Rommert Boonstra e.a., Beyond Photography. Imagination and photography, Amsterdam (Voetnoot) 2008, p. 170-175, 271 (met foto’s).
Uta Grosenick and Thomas Seelig (red.), Photo art. Photography in the 21st century, New York (Aperture) z.j. [2008], p. 282-285 (met foto’s) (vert. van Photo art. Fotografie im 21. Jahrhundert, Keulen (DuMont) 2007).
Anoniem, Kunstwerk. Neues aus Berliner Gallerien, in Berliner Morgenpost 13 mei 2007.
Katja Rodenburg, Ik, Ophelia, Harderwijk (d’jonge Hond) 2008, p. 40, 44-51, 66-67, 78 (met foto’s).
Anoniem, Hellen van Meene, in Noordhollands Dagblad 26 januari 2008.
Annette Embrechts, Origineel essay over rossige Ophelia’s, in de Volkskrant 18 maart 2008, Kunst, p. 17.
Anoniem, Ode aan de pose met een cameo, in Het Financieele Dagblad 5 april 2008, Cultuur, p. 16.
Rutger Pontzen, Niet bang van geld. Veilinghuizen richten zich op nieuwe kunstenaars, in de Volkskrant 14 augustus 2008, Kunst, p. 6-7.
Sandra Jongenelen, Allround regelaars, in Het Financieele Dagblad 13 september 2008, Cultuur, p. 22.
Arjen Ribbens, ‘Voel je thuis’. Het Binnenhuis 3 De huisartsenpraktijk van Jeu van Sint Fiet, in NRC Handelsblad 4 oktober 2008, Zaterdags Bijvoegsel, p. 22.
Lucette ter Borg, Moderne kunst voor burgers verklaard. Beeldende kunst Afscheidstentoonstelling van Wim van Krimpen in Haags Gemeentemuseum, in NRC Handelsblad 25 november 2008, Kunst, p. 9.
Catalogus tent. Dutch Seen. New York rediscovered, Amsterdam (Foam) 2009, p. 52-57, 91 (met foto’s).
Steve Grist, The contact sheet, z.p. [Los Angeles] (AMMO Books) 2009.
Edie Peters (tekst). Hellen van Meene. Alles zal verdwijnen, in PF/Professionele Fotografie (2009) 8, p. 35-42 (met foto’s).
Awards
1999 Charlotte Köhlerprijs.
2001 Nominatie voor de vijfde Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize.
Exhibitions
1994 (g) Amsterdam, Oude Kerk, UWAGA.
1995 (s) Amsterdam, Expozaal W.G., A sunset always sells.
1995 (g) Naarden, Fotofestival Naarden.
1996 (g) Amsterdam, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Eindexamententoonstelling.
1996 (g) Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Scanning, toegepaste kunst en fotografie [gemeentelijke kunstaankopen].
1997 (g) Amsterdam, Westergasfabriek, Niet de Kunstvlaai.
1997 (g) Dordrecht, CBK, Art primeur ’97.
1997 (g) Groningen, Der Aa-Kerk, Unbeschreiblich Weiblich? (fotomanifestatie Noorderlicht).
1997 (g) Groningen, Galerie Niggendijker.
1998 (g) Amstelveen, Gemeentelyk Expositiecentrum Aemstelle, Kunst Aanmoedingsprijs Amstelveen.
1998 (e) Amsterdam, Galerie Paul Andriesse.
1999 (e) Alkmaar, Galerie Dijk 1.
1999 (g) Amsterdam, RAI, Uitgelicht 5 [werk van 146 kunstenaars die in 1997 en 1998 een startstipendium ontvingen van het Fonds BKVB] (De KunstRAI 1999).
1999 (g) Dordrecht, Pictura, 5 jaar Art Primeur.
1999 (g) Haarlem, Provinciehuis, Foto-documentaire opdrachten Noord-Holland.
1999 (e) Londen, The Photographers’ Gallery, Hellen van Meene.
1999 (g) Montreal, Maison de la culture Frontenac, Human conditions, intimate portraits/Conditions humaines, portraits intimes (Mois de la Photo) [reizende tentoonstelling: 2000 Rotterdam, Nederlands Foto Instituut; 2000 Madrid, La Sala de Exposiciones del Canal de Isabel 11; 2004/2005 Dunaújváros, Kortars Müvészeti Intézet (Institute of Contemporary Art)].
2000 (e) Amsterdam, Galerie Paul Andriesse, [nieuw werk van Hellen van Meene].
2000 (g) Brussel, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen.
2000 (g) Leeuwarden, Fries Museum, Het paard van Troje.
2000 (e) Londen, Sadie Coles HQ.
2000 (e) Los Angeles, Mare Foxx Gallery.
2000 (e) Middelburg, Kabinetten van de Vleeshal, Hellen van Meene.
2000 (e) Milaan, La Case d’Arte, Botticelli nei polders [Botticelli in de polder].
2000 (e) Milaan, Galleria Laura Pecci, Botticelli nei polders [Botticelli in de polder].
2000 (g) Nice, Galerie du Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Septembre de la photo. Quinze en Europe, la jeune photographie Européenne.
2000 (e) Tokio, Gallery Atsuko Koyanagi.
2000 (g) Venetië, Japanse Paviljoen, City of Girls (Zevende Architectuur Biennale).
2001 (g) Amsterdam, Huis Marseille, Fotografie uit de KPN collectie.
2001 (g) Den Haag, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Beauty of Intimacy. Lens and Paper.
2001 (g) Londen, The Photographers’ Gallery, Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize 2001.
2001 (e) Los Angeles, Marc Foxx Gallery.
2001 (g) Malmö, Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, “Vi”. Intentional Communities.
2001 (g) New York, The Greene Naftali Gallery, Deliberate living.
2001 (e) New York, Matthew Marks Gallery,
2001/2002 (g) Amsterdam, Foam, Dutchdelight.
2001/2002 (g) Leeuwarden, Fries Museum.
2002 (e) Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography.
2002 (g) Den Bosch, Noordbrabants Museum, Per Saldo. Honderd kunstwerken uit de collectie ABN Amro.
2002 (e) Edinburgh, Inverleith House. Royal Botanie Garden.
2002 (e) Glarus, Kunsthaus Glarus.
2002 (e) Haarlem, De Hallen, Japan foto’s 2000.
2002 (e) Madrid, PhotoEspana 2002.
2002 (g) Parijs, Le Carrousel du Louvre, Statement: Pays-Bas (Paris Photo).
2002/2003 (g) Den Haag, Fotomuseum Den Haag, Fotografen in Nederland 1852-2002.
2003 (e) Arnhem, Gemeentemuseum Arnhem.
2003 (e) Brussel, Gallery Rudolphe Janssen.
2003 (g) Essen, Museum Folkwang, “Was ich von ihnen gesehen und was man mir von ihnen erzählt hatte”. Der fotografierte Mensch in Bildern der Fotografischen Sammlung im Museum Folkwang.
2003 (g) Helmond, Gemeentemuseum Helmond, Child in time. Visies van hedendaagse kunstenaars op jeugd en adolescentie
2003 (g) Lake Worth, Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Imperfect Innocence. The Dennis and Debra Scholl Collection.
2003 (e) Milaan, La Case d’Arte.
2003 (g) New York, Ferragamo, [Game. Farragamo shoe project].
2003 (g) New York, Marvelli Gallery, Moti Mentali. Mirroring Victorian and Contemporary Photography.
2003 (e) Nijmegen, CBKN (Centrum Beeldende Kunst), Hellen van Meene.
2003 (g) Tokio, Parco Museum.
2003/2004 (g) Kortrijk, ING-bank, Double Exposure.
2003/2004 (g) Leeuwarden, Fries Museum, Personalities.
2003/2004 (g) Long Island City, Fischer Landau Centre for Art, Photographs. Recent Acquisitions.
2004 (g) Durham, John Hope Franklin Center, L-scape.
2004 (g) Haarlem, De Hallen, Outcasts and Sunday’s Children – Acquisitions in 2003.
2004 (g) Pontiac, Museum of New Art, Biennale.
2004 (g) Rome, Mercati di Traiano, WonderHolland.
2004/2005 (g) Athene, The Netherlands Institute, The Dutch show. Contemporary Dutch artists in Greek collections.
2004/2005 (g) New York, Fisher Landau Center for Art, Photographs. Recent Acquisitions.
2005 (g) Amsterdam, Museumplein [buitententoonstelling], Feiten & Foto’s [reizende tentoonstelling: Groningen, Breda, Rotterdam, Utrecht en Maastricht].
2005 (g) Bergen, Museum Kranenburgh, Bronnen. Bergen, de Bergense School en de Berger Scholengemeenschap.
2005 (g) Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, In Sight. Contemporary Dutch Photography from the Collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
2005 (g) Den Bosch, Stichting KW14 [voormalig pand van Rijkswaterstaat, Waterstraat 16], Constructed Moments.
2005 (g) Den Haag, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, HxWxD = De Rabo Kunstcollectie.
2005 (g) Haarlem, De Hallen, Blik op vrouwen. Portretten uit de fotocollectie.
2005 (g) Lugano, Galleria Gottardo, Family Pictures. Contemporary Photography and Video from the Collection of the Guggenheim Museum.
2005 (g) New York, Cheim & Read Gallery, Reason Compassion Justice. A Benefit for the Drug Policy Alliance.
2005 (g) Nürnberg, Neues Museum, Der fotografierte Mensch. Von den Anfängen bis heute – Bilder der Fotografischen Sammlung des Museum Folkwang, Essen.
2005 (g) Parijs, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris Photo 2005 [presentatie Gallery Willem van Zoetendaal].
2005 (g) Parijs, Hotel Turgot, Cadres revisités.
2005 (g) Parijs, Institut Néerlandais, Frames Revisited/Cadres revisités.
2005 (g) Pontica, Museum of New Art, The children’s hour.
2005 (g) Turijn, Guarene d’Alba, Bidibidobidiboo – Works from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection.
2005/2006 (g) Den Haag, Fotomuseum Den Haag, [nieuwe aanwinsten].
2005/2006 (g) Marrakech, Le Musée de Marrakech, The Wonderful Fund on Tour.
2006 (e) Amsterdam, Huis Marseille, Hellen van Meene. Nieuw Werk/New Work.
2006 (g) Amsterdam, Studio Apart, Een vrij moment in een gevangen dag [expositie en veiling ten bate van stichting Young in Prison].
2006 (g) De Rijp, [diverse woonhuizen en tuinen in De Ryp], Kunst op kamers.
2006 (e) Edinburgh, Stills Gallery.
2006 (g) Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum, Portaal naar de hemel, hedendaagse foto’s getoond in antieke lijsten afkomstig uit de 16de tot 19de eeuw.
2006 (e) Liverpool, Open Eye Gallery.
2006 (e) Londen, Pump House Gallery, Hellen van Meene: New work.
2006 (g) Parijs, MEP. Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Netherlands Now, L’école du Nord (L’esprit du Nord).
2006 (e) Tokio, Gallery Koyanagi, Hellen van Meene “A Sense of You, Created by Me”.
2006 (e) Tokio, Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya, Tokyo Girls.
2006/2007 (e) Essen, Museum Folkwang, Portraits 1995-2006.
2006/2007 (e) Southend-on-Sea, Focal Point Gallery, Hellen van Meene. New work.
2007 (g) Amsterdam, Foam, Binnenste-Buiten.
2007 (e) Amsterdam, Galerie Van Zoetendaal, Hellen van Meene – Polaroids.
2007 (g) Amsterdam, Witzenhauzen Gallery, [Aperture’s Dutch Artists one-day exhibition].
2007 (e) Berlijn, C /O Berlin, Portraits 1995-2006.
2007 (g) Brussel, Musée d’Ixelles.
2007 (g) Den Haag, Fotomuseum Den Haag, Koos Breukel: Onder fotografen [portretten van collega-fotografen plus één werk uit hun eigen oeuvre].
2007 (g) Madrid, Consejeria de Cultura y Deportes. Sala Canal de Isabel II, LOCAL. El fin de la globalización (PhotoEspana 2007).
2007 (e) München, Schirmer/Mosel Showroom.
2007 (g) New York, Guggenheim Museum, Family Pictures.
2007 (e) New York, Yancey Richardson Gallery.
2007 (e) Stockholm, Fotografins Hus.
2007 (e) Warschau, Yours Gallery.
2007/2008 (g) Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Girls on the Verge. Portraits of Adolescence.
2008 (g) Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Me, Ophelia.
2008 (g) Den Haag, Fotomuseum Den Haag, Collectie Van Zoetendaal.
2008 (g) Haarlem, De Hallen, Courtesy Hans Kemna.
2008 (g) Leiden, Galerie LUMC, In Between.
2008 (g) Londen, Maddox Art Gallery, Viva Lolita.
2008 (e) Londen, Sadie Coles HQ.
2008 (g) New York, The UBS Art Gallery, Implant.
2008 (g) Philadelphia, Moore College of Art and Design, In Repose.
2008 (e) Seoul, I M Art Gallery.
2008 (g) Tonsberg, Hangar Art Museum, Puberty.
2008 (g) Winterthur, Fotomuseum Winterthur, DARKSIDE – Photographic Desire and Sexuality Photographed.
2008/2009 (g) Den Haag, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, XXste eeuw.
2008/2009 (g) New York, Michael Mazzeo Gallery, BARE.
2009 (g) Amsterdam, Foam, Dutch Seen – New York Rediscovered.
2009 (g) Brattelboro, Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, As Others See Us.
2009 (e) Echigo-Tsumari region. Pool of Tears (Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennal).
2009 (g) New York, Brooklyn Museum, Extended Family: Contemporary Connections.
2009 (g) New York, Cheim & Read, The Female Gaze: Women Look at Women.
2009 (g) New York, Museum of the City of New York, Dutch Seen – New York Rediscovered.
2009 (g) New York, Yancey Richardson Gallery, Selections.
2009 (g) New York, Yancey Richardson Gallery, Tout va disparaître.
2009 (g) Wenen, Kunsthalle Wien, Das Porträt als Bühne.
2010 (g) Innsbruck, FO.KU.S Foto Kunst Stadtforum, Tout va disparaître.
2010 (g) Utrecht, Flatland Gallery, Vulnerability.
Television Programs
2002 (28 april) HH Zondag, waarin een gesprek van Hanneke Groenteman met Hellen van Meene (VPRO).
2002 Hollands zicht, afl. 2. Hellen van Meene, regie Oswald Schwirtz (AVRO).
2006 Pol’s hoogte. Interview met Hellen van Meene over haar tentoonstelling in Huis Marseille (RTV Noord-Holland).
2009 (27 september) Kunststof TV, waarin o.a. een gesprek met Hellen van Meene over haar nieuwe fotoboek Tout va disparaître (NPS).
Website
Sources
Leiden, Prentenkabinet Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden, bibliotheek en documentatiebestand.
Leusden, Jan Wingender (collectie nederlands fotoboek).
Collections
Amsterdam, ABN AMRO Kunststichting.
Amsterdam, DNB Kunstcollectie [De Nederlansche Bank].
Amsterdam, Huis Marseille.
Amsterdam, Randstad fotocollectie werk/work.
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum.
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago.
Den Haag, Collectie Koninklijke KPN.
Den Haag, Fotomuseum Den Haag.
Den Haag, TNT Post Kunstcollectie.
Essen, Museum Folkwang.
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum.
Leeuwarden, Fries Museum.
Londen, Victoria & Albert Museum.
Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art.
Miami, Miami Art Museum.
Miami, Rubell Family Collection.
New York, Brooklyn Museum.
New York, Guggenheim Museum.
San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Utrecht, Rabo Kunstcollectie.