Rineke Dijkstra
Nationality: Dutch
Born: 1959-06-02, Sittard, Netherlands

Rineke Dijkstra was born in 1959 in Sittard, the Netherlands in 1959. From 1981-1986 she attended the Gerrit Rietveld Acadmie in Amsterdam where she studied photography. While a student, Dijkstra worked for magazines in Amsterdam, photographing club kids. Dijkstra first began exhibiting her photographic work in 1992 and in a relatively brief time, she has developed an international reputation as one of the most critically acclaimed Dutch artists of her generation. She has had solo exhibitions at the Sprengel Museum in Hannover (1998), Museum Boymansvan Beuningen in Rotterdam (1998), Anthony d'Offay Gallery in London (1999), the Herzliya Museum of Art (1999), the Art Institute of Chicago (2001), and the Frans Halsmuseum (de Hallen) in Haarlem (2001-2002).

Dijkstra's work is influenced by practices as diverse as August Sander and Diane Arbus. The former is known for his interest in typologies of people, developed serially and providing a general sociological statement, while the latter is known for her specific self reflective images that remove the subject's ability to control the way in which they are represented. Dijkstra quotes Arbus in saying she too is interested in "the gap between intention and effect" in the way people present themselves and the way they are perceived. Dijkstra's portraits are distinguished by a singular empathy with her subjects. She has said 'For me, it is essential to understand that everyone is alone. Not in the sense of loneliness, but rather in the sense that no one can completely understand someone else. I want to awaken definite sympathies for the person I have photographed."

Dijkstra continues to live and work in Amsterdam.

Source: Acquisition Justification