Rijksmuseum mounts major Ed van der Elsken retrospective

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will present 'Ed van der Elsken: Up Close' from June 19 to September 13, one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of the Dutch street photographer's work. Spanning nine galleries, the show tracks his career from 1948 to his death in 1990, including photographs from his Japan photobook 'De ontdekking van Japan' taken while he was dying from prostate cancer. The exhibition is largely drawn from the work archive acquired jointly by the Rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum in 2019. Curator Hinde Haest emphasizes the focus on process, with contact sheets, unpublished letters, notes, book designs, and film fragments—many never exhibited before. Iconic works like 'Beethovenstraat, Amsterdam' (1967) and 'Woman on a Bicycle' (1983) are included. Haest notes that the correspondence reveals van der Elsken's self-doubt, contrasting with his extroverted public persona.