Besnyö, Eva (1910—)
Besnyö, Eva (1910—)
Hungarian-Dutch photographer, specializing in documentation. Name variations: Besnyo. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1910; children: (with Wim Brusse) two.
After training with established Budapest photographer Jozsef Pécsi, Eva Besnyö began her career in Berlin, shooting for magazines and industry. A liaison with Dutch photographer John Fernhout led her to Amsterdam, where she joined the Dutch Photographers' Society and worked commercially in architecture, portraits, and fashion, while also doing large mural work. In 1937, she helped organize the exhibition Foto 37 at the Stedelijk Museum.
Of Jewish background, Besnyö was forced underground after the German takeover of the Netherlands. Following the liberation, an affair with graphic designer Wim Brusse, with whom she had two children, kept her out of circulation until 1968, when she separated from Brusse and went back to work. From 1970 to 1976, she was associated with the activist feminist group Dolle Mina. Exhibitions of Besnyö's early works were held in London (Modern Spirit in Photography, 1932) and at the Van Lier Gallery in Amsterdam (1933). In 1982, a retrospective of her work was exhibited at the Historisch Museum in Amsterdam.