Germaine Van Parys, also Van Parijs, (1893–1983) was a Belgian

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

. She was the first woman in Belgium to join the profession, which was very unusual to find a woman mentioned in the history of photography before 1920s. She left an extensive collection covering the people and places she photographed from 1918 to 1968, documenting key events in the country's history.

Biography

Born in Brussels in 1893, Van Parys joined the profession in 1913. By the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, she was recognized as one of Belgium's most competent photographers. In 1926, she was a founding member of the "Association des reporters photographes de presse". She first worked for ''

Le Soir ''Le Soir'' (, "The Evening") is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. It is one of the most popular Francophone newspapers in Belgium, competing ...

'' (1922), then for ''La Meuse'' (1932), also contributing to the Paris weekly ''

L'Illustration ''L'Illustration'' was a weekly French language, French newspaper published in Paris from 1843 to 1944. It was founded by Édouard Charton with the first issue published on 4 March 1843, it became the first illustrated newspaper in France then, a ...

''. In addition to images of royalty, she covered national catastrophes, plane crashes and assassinations. Of particular interest are her photographs of the

Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...

floods in 1926. She was one of the few women photographers to be a correspondent during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, also covering the Belgian liberation. In 1956, she created her own agency, Van Parijs Media. Van Parys died in Brussels in 1983. Van Parijs Media was merged with the Reports press agency in 2005. In October 2011, a retrospective of Van Parys' work was presented by La Fondation Germaine Van Parys."La mémoire de la Belgique. 1918 - 1995 vu par les objectifs de Germaine Van Parys et Odette Dereze"
Plurio.net. Retrieved 10 March 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Parys, Germaine Photographers from Brussels 1893 births 1983 deaths Journalists from Brussels Belgian photojournalists Belgian women photographers Women photojournalists