Artist: Maria Austria (1915-1975)

Amsterdam, meisje met poppenwagen in Vondelpark (1956)

Fine Art pigment print, size 40x40cm.

Maria Austria (1915-1975) was born in Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary) in Czechoslovakia. After high school, she took a professional photographic course in Vienna. In 1937 she travels to the Netherlands to get to know the cultural West, but she decides to stay because the influence of the Nazis is now also being felt in Austria and Czechoslovakia. She moves in with her sister Lisbeth, who designs knitting models, which Maria photographs. In 1942 her sister was arrested and deported to Westerbork. Maria goes into hiding at an address in Vondelstraat in Amsterdam, where Henk Jonker also resides, who is involved in forging identity cards. Maria takes passport photos for this purpose and is active as a courier.

In 1945, a partnership of photographers who were active in the resistance was formed under the name Particam. The hard core of the collective consists, in addition to Maria Austria, of Aart Klein and Henk Jonker. In 1953 Maria and Henk married each other.

Henk Jonker works permanently for opera and ballet performances. And Maria Austria is particularly active for the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Choir, and both as freelancers for theater companies the Zuidelijk Toneel, Ensemble and Arena. In 1963 Maria and Henk divorced, after which she continued alone as Particam. During that period she had three students: Vincent Mentzel, Jaap Pieper and Bob van Dantzig. She is the resident photographer of the Mickery Theater, where experimental theater companies from home and abroad perform. And she works for the Dutch Opera and the Holland Festival. And she is active in the photographers organization GKf.