Bertien van Manen started her career as a fashion photographer, after having studied French and German languages and litterature. Inspired by Robert Frank’s “The Americans” she travelled to Budapest and New York, photographing what she saw. She had her first exhibition in the Photographers Gallery in London in 1977.
van Manen worked on projects like “a Hundred Summers a Hundred Winters”, photographs taken in the ex-Soviet Union, “East Wind West Wind” made in China and “Give me your Image” in Europe. These projects resulted in photo-albums and exhibitions all over the world. They were rewarded with numerous prizes.
In September 2011 a new book will be published in London, with images made in former Soviet Republiques. There will be exhibitions of this work in Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris and New York.
Photographs are in the collection of: La Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum of Modern Art New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, SF Moma San Francisco, The Metropolitan Museum of Photography Tokio Japan, Centre national des arts plastiques Paris France, The Baltimore Museum of Art USA, la Salle Chicago a.o.
