Willem Diepraam

Willem Diepraam (1944- ) was born in Amsterdam and first became interested in the photographic medium when he realized the success with which photo reportage could transport and imprint  messages of social significance to vast audiences. With his early influences being the Dutch Worker Photographer movement and the photographer   Ed van der Elsken, Diepraam began his career in the 1960s as a self-taught photojournalist working for a Dutch newspaper, Vrij Nederland. Since then he has published several books of his own work including, Dutch Caribbean (1975), Sahel (1982), Lima (1991), and Foto’s and Photographs (2000). Over the years Diepraam has played multiple roles in the medium, as an avid collector of photographs, curator of exhibitions (of both his own work and others ), and he has published books of other photographers’ works as well.   In 1999, he researched and wrote Eva Besnyö, a survey of her photographic output.   Diepraam also donated part of a 400-print collection of original prints by some of the greatest names in the field to the Rijksmuseum.   The peripatetic  artist’s work demonstrates a sincere concern for the plight of the world’s underprivileged, while his eye never sacrifices elegant form and composition.  Long an established name in photojournalism and art photography in European circles, Diepraam has been lesser-known in the United States. Several of his publications are available from our gallery.