1908-1997
Born in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam, where his father was a diamond cutter. He left for Paris when he was still young, where he became publicity director for MGM film company and operetta singer. In 1939, He emigrated to the United States of America where he acted in war films in Hollywood.. Present in Normandy during the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, he worked as a correspondent for the US military. He was in Paris for the liberation of the capital and found himself in Auschwitz for the liberation of the post-war camp, Waagenaar was a photo journalist, moved to Rome, published many books. He made many trips. Human emotions and everyday life play an important role in his photographic work carried out during many trips.
In 1951 Waagenaar produced a series of 55 photographs of the former Jewish community of Djerba, partly taken for an exhibition Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam in 2014-2015.
In this series Waagenaar gives a picture of Jewish life in the ancient villages of HaraSeghira and HaraKebira, where Jews and Arabs had lived together for centuries. The images depict everyday life on the streets, in the market and in the synagogue paying special attention to local customs and traditions, like the symbols painted on the house of a newlywed couple. In 2016, the Maison de la Photographie bought a series of photographs taken in Ouarzazate, probably between 1951 and 1955. Waagenaar’s photographic style is expressed here : faces, everyday scenes. We could not find the negatives of this set : the photos exhibited are press documents, which testify to the humanism of the photographer.
Filmmaker Pim Zwier directed in 2014 a documentary on the life of Waagenaar. ( http://www.seriousfilm.nl) .
Bibliography :
“”Women of Israel, Schocken Books, 1961
Expositions :
“Women of Israel”. Amsterdam, 196O
‘ The Jews of Djerba”, Amsterdam Jewish Historical Museum 2014-2015