Dutch Photographers since 1938

Bennekom, Lood van

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  Haring Mode (1965) Lood van Bennekom / Nederlands Fotomuseum
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  Dubbelportret van Lood van Bennekom en zijn vrouw Tosca Leenders (1960-1961) Lood van Bennekom / Nederlands Fotomuseum

Name variations

 

Family relationships

 

Short description

Despite his versatility, Lood van Bennekom is best known for his work in the field of fashion. Fashion photography became his speciality in the 1950s, which saw the rise of both haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing in the Netherlands.
It was by more... »

Despite his versatility, Lood van Bennekom is best known for his work in the field of fashion. Fashion photography became his speciality in the 1950s, which saw the rise of both haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing in the Netherlands.
It was by chance that Van Bennekom became interested in photography. After leaving school he worked as an electrician for a while. He joined a young workers' association and developed a keen interest in literature and art. This brought him into contact with Adriaan van der Horst's puppet theatre, which he accompanied to Paris. There he met the American photographer Berenice Abbot. She kindled his enthusiasm for photography and recruited him to assist her in rendering Eugène Atget's archive accessible, which she had acquired in 1928. It was however in the field that Van Bennekom gained most of his practical experience: first as a press photographer, then as a commercial photographer and subsequently as an industrial photographer for Philips and Van Leer; he also worked for the Netherlands Government Information Service.
In the 1950s Van Bennekom specialised in fashion photography. He made reportages of shows given in the Netherlands by French couturiers like Hubert de Givenchy and Jacques Fath, by rising Dutch dress designers like Max Heymans, and ready-to-wear fashion shows. He also photographed fashion collections in his studio or on location. Fashion accessories were another of his specialities. He was the house photographer of dress and millinery designer Peter van Voorn and the shoe company Bata International. Van Bennekom's photos were frequently captioned by his wife, Tosca Leenders, for publication in women's magazines.
Van Bennekom's fashion photos reflect the general line in fashion photography, the models' elegant, ballerina-like poses of the fifties giving way to more casual attitudes in the sixties, when photographers sought a less formal approach in the use of unusual angles and amusing settings.
Van Bennekom's prewar work has been lost, the archive at the nfa beginning in 1946. The photos he took for the Government Information Service are described in the registers kept in the nfa, but the negatives are missing. « less...

Place/date of birth

Amsterdam 1905-12-05 

Place/date of death

1978-03-17 

Nationality

Nederlands 

Discipline

fotograaf 

Subject

portretfotografie, naaktfiguren, reportagefotografie, documentaire fotografie, landschappen, modefotografie, reclamefotografie, fotojournalistiek
 

Product

fotoboeken  

Material

 

Collection is managed by

 

Copyright is managed by

 

Other websites about this photographer

 

 

Go to this photographer in RKD-Artists 

Latest editing

2011-10-26 (RZ) 

Places/periods of working

Parijs
Nederland
Eindhoven
Amsterdam
Beverwijk
Zandvoort
Hong Kong
Basra
Singapore
Nederlands Indië (hist.)
Amsterdam
 

Publications

 

Education

 

Pupil of

 

Teacher of

 

Winner of

 

Member of

Bond van Kunstenaars ter Verdediging van de Kulturele Rechten (BKVK)
NVF (Nederlandse Vereniging van Fotojournalisten)
GKf beroepsvereniging van fotografen 

See also

  

Sources

 

Additional remarks