In 1993, while awaiting
military service, he made a trip to
New York, where he mostly did
street photography. He has described New York as his "entrance ticket" to the profession of photography.[3]
Co-founder of the publishing company Uitgeverij Kannibaal/Hannibal, he is also its artistic director. Since 2010, he has been a visiting professor at the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts in
Ghent.[4][12]
Elvis&Presley
In May 1999, Vanfleteren travelled around the USA with his friend the Swiss photographer
Robert Huber [
Wikidata], in the footsteps of their idol
Elvis Presley. They photographed each other, "in identical white jumpsuits, mirror shades and high-rise hair",[13] as "Elvis" (Huber) and "Presley" (Vanfleteren), in humdrum scenes from
Times Square to
Death Valley. Vanfleteren photographed in
black and white, Huber in colour. This led to
Vanfleteren's first major book[14] and
an exhibition.[13][15] Both photographers, said a reviewer of the exhibition at the
Open Eye Gallery, showed themselves to "have a fine eye for ironic composition".[13]
From reportage to portraiture
Vanfleteren's portraits have been his best-known and most recognizable work. Always in black and white, he has photographed many people from the art world but also many who are unknown. A review in Het Nieuwsblad of an exhibition of his portraits commented that Vanfleteren's proximity to the faces and the detail of the photographs together almost create "
death masks of the living".[16][n 1]
As an international project, Vanfleteren has given faces to numerous people living in poverty and isolation in Antwerp and Brussels. "While I focused on their eyes, I listened to their experiences."[3] In 2009 these portraits, along with others, became the subject of
an exhibition at
Le Botanique, a cultural centre in Brussels.[17] Most were taken with one of Vanfleteren's four
Rolleiflexes, as their
waist-level finders allowed him to get close.[2]: 205
In the same year, at
Wintercircus Mahy [
Wikidata],
Ghent, Vanfleteren exhibited Portret 1989–2009, around two hundred portraits in black and white of people who had had some media presence during the previous two decades.[16] The exhibition then went on tour.
In 2018, he published Surf Tribe, for which he had made a months-long journey around the world, making portraits of surfers. He went to the most celebrated beaches for surfing, but also little-known places in order to portray the most famous surfers, champions as well as unknown amateurs. He did not photograph them in motion but instead captured their static portraits on the beach.[3]
Belgicum
From September 2007 to February 2008, the exhibition Belgicum was held at
Fotomuseum Antwerp (FoMu). A review in La Libre described this:
Dilapidated buildings, outdated town fairs, unfashionable bars [. . .]. Series of portraits – one could call them mugs – of persons bearing the scars of their hard lives, landscapes engulfed in mist, a document of the repetitive days of an internee at the
Guislain Institute in Ghent and finally an un-embellished portrayal of Theofiel, an old farmer broken down amid a pile of objects. This is all "Belgicum"; and obviously, as the [book of the same title] also shows, this tragic Belgium of the little people between canals and side-roads is in fact that of a true
Simenon of photography.[18][n 2]
Charleroi
Vanfleteren was the fifth (after
Bernard Plossu, Dave Anderson,
Jens Olof Lasthein and Claire Chevrier) in a series of photographers to be provided with a residency at the
Museum of Photography [
Wikidata] in
Charleroi.[19][20] He produced a series of photographs, including many portraits, taken in that city, which had been greatly affected by deindustrialization. These were exhibited in the museum in 2015.
The exhibition was described on
RTBF as "a tender look at a harsh reality", and as having links to the work of
August Sander and
Walker Evans yet being the product of a singular vision.[21][n 3] A review in Moustique said:
Alone, free as a dog, sidling between fog and neon lights, in streets where memories of once flourishing industry disintegrate, or contemplating from the top of a slag heap a landscape where factories once spewed smoke, it is above all all the decay of the world that he encounters.[19][n 4]
Façades & Vitrines
With rare exceptions, Vanfleteren has only photographed in black and white. However, in 2013 he published a series of
colour photographs, taken several years earlier, of old wall advertisements, facades destined for demolition or abandoned shop windows; these appeared in a lavishly produced book, Façades & Vitrines.[22]
Stil leven
In 2016, Vanfleteren made a series of photographs for an exhibition, Stil leven, at the
Museum Oud Amelisweerd [
Wikidata] (MOA), in
Bunnik. Rejecting the museum's initial request for photographs of the
Atlantic Wall, he let himself be influenced by the environment of the museum and the surrounding park to realize a series of nudes, still lifes with dead animals, in both black and white and colour. His photos form a dialogue with the work of the painter
Armando, the building, and the surrounding nature.[23]
Present
In 2020, Fotomuseum Antwerp organized a major retrospective, Present, which followed Vanfleteren's thirty years of photography, with personal reflections: from street photography in cities such as New York to the Rwandan genocide, from store facades to the "darkly beautiful"[24] remains of the
Atlantic Wall, from still lifes to portraits.[5][25]
Present. FoMu Antwerp. October 2019 – September 2020.[93][n 10] Accompanied by
a book.
Corona walks. FoMu Antwerp. June–September 2020.[93][94] Accompanied by
a book.
Group exhibitions
Buren, document Nederland, drie buitenlandse fotografen kijken naar Nederland. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. November 2000 – February 2001. With
Eva Leitolf [
Wikidata] and
Mark Power.[95] Accompanied by
a book.
In de marge: Belgische documentaire fotografie = In the Margin: Belgian Documentary Photography = En marge: Photographie documentaire belge. Museum Dr. Guislain, Ghent, Belgium, June–September 2011.[96] Accompanied by
a book.
Facing Japan. With Marleen Daniëls, Nick Hannes,
Michiel Hendryckx [
Wikidata],
Jimmy Kets [
Wikidata], Maroesjka Lavigne, Tony Le Duc, Charlotte Lybeer, Sarah Van Marcke and Rob Walbers. Museum Dr. Guislain. June–September 2015.[101][102] Accompanied by
a book.
Faces Now: European Portrait Photography since 1990 = Faces Now: Portraits photographiques européens depuis 1990. By 33 photographers.[n 11] Accompanied by
a book.
Giganten van Afrika: De hoge vlucht van Nigeria's Super Eagles. By Jan Antonissen, Vincent Loozen, and Vanfleteren. Leuven: Van Halewyck, 1998.
ISBN9056171577.
Hans Vandekerckhove: schilderijen ter vervolmaking van methoden van onbeweeglijkheid. Otegem: Deweer Art Gallery, 2001. Accompanying an exhibition, March–April 2001.[n 24] Photographs of
Hans Vandekerckhove by Vanfleteren and Peter Claeys.
OCLC901161533.
Koers! Het rijke Vlaamse wielerleven in twaalf portretten. Text by Jeroen de Preter and Tony Landuyt; photographs by Vanfleteren. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff; Antwerp: Manteau, 2003.
ISBN9789059900059.
Verfraaiing: 12 werken uit de provinciale kunstcollectie, 12 creaties, 24 kunstenaarsportretten. Edited by Wendy Leplae and Chris Minten; photographs by Vanfleteren. Bruges: Provincie West-Vlaanderen, 2005.
OCLC901117845.
WielerSportCultuur. Text by
Frans Babylon [
Wikidata] and others; photographs by Vanfleteren. [S.l.]: Vlaams Ministerie van Sport, [2009].
OCLC495778638.
Karl Vannieuwkerke. Renner willen worden. Lichtervelde: Kannibaal 2010.
ISBN9789081389419. A memoir by the sports reporter Karl Vannieuwkerke. Vanfleteren contributes photographs.
Karl Dhont,
Stefaan Lammens [
Wikidata], and Vanfleteren. Stam N° 3: leven voor blauw-zwart. Lichtervelde: Kannibaal, 2011.
ISBN9789081623773. About the fans of
Club Brugge. Vanfleteren contributes photographs.
De Ronde: Een Zondag in April. Photographs by Vanfleteren. [Lichtervelde]: Hannibal, 2011.
ISBN978-90-8162-374-2. About the television series
De Ronde [
Wikidata].
In de marge: Belgische documentaire fotografie = In the Margin: Belgian Documentary Photography = En marge: photographie documentaire belge. Ghent: Museum Dr. Guislain; Tielt: Lannoo, 2011.
ISBN978-90-209-9627-2. With numerous other photographers. Includes Vanfleteren's series of photographs of a man named Étienne, who was caring for doves at
Dr Guislain Psychiatric Centre [
Wikidata] (
Ghent). Accompanied by
an exhibition.
En avant, marche! Over majorettes, harmonies, fanfares en andere blaasorkesten. By
Jan Matthys [
Wikidata], Hanne Delodder, Marijke Libert; with photographs by Vanfleteren. [Lichtervelde]: Hannibal, 2012.
ISBN9789491376245. Accompanied by
an exhibition.
The Great War 1914–18: In Flanders Fields Museum photographic collection. Veurne: Hannibal, 2013. Text in Dutch, French and English.
ISBN9789491376566. Photographs from the
In Flanders Fields Museum, edited under the supervision of
Piet Chielens and Vanfleteren.[113]
Helden op het water. By Leo van de Ruit and Vanfleteren. [Veurne]: Hannibal, 2014.
ISBN9789491376764.
Frits Giertsberg, ed. European Portrait Photography since 1990. Munich: Prestel, 2015.
ISBN9783791349275.
The Butcher's Book. [Veurne]: Hannibal, 2015.
ISBN978-94-9208-152-0. Text (in Dutch) by Hendrik Dierendonck, René Sépul and Marijke Libert; photography by Thomas Sweertvaegher and Vanfleteren.[n 28]
^Bâtisses délabrées, kermesses ringardes, bistrots borgnes, des ambiances qui se prolongent dans sept suites d'images installées en grand tout autour du reste de la salle. Séries de portraits – de gueules plus exactement – d'écorchés de la vie dure, paysages tous noyés dans la brume, constat des journées répétitives d'un interné de l'institut Guislain à Gand et enfin description au couteau de Theofiel, un vieux fermier cassé au milieu de son capharnaüm. C'est tout cela "Belgicum" et de toute évidence, comme le laisse voir également le très bel album éponyme, cette Belgique tragique des petites gens entre canal et trajectoires obliques est en fait celle d'un véritable Simenon de la photo.
^Il livre un reportage à fleur de peau et pose un regard tendre sur une réalité âpre. [. . .] Le reportage humaniste de Stephan Vanfleteren a la force du style documentaire qui le relie à des auteurs tels August Sander et Walker Evans, mais le regard du photographe est singulier.
^Seul, libre comme un chien, se faufilant entre brouillard et néons, dans des rues où s’écroulent les souvenirs d’une industrie autrefois florissante, ou contemplant du haut d’un terril un paysage où les usines vomissaient autrefois des nuages de fumée, c’est surtout toute la décrépitude du monde qu’il croise.
^For a personal description of the exhibition, see Kelly Steenlandt, "
Aller retour", kellysteenlandt.com, 12 April 2013.
^
abPhotographs of Façades & Vitrines – both the book and the show at the Broel Museum – are at "
Façades & Vitrines", The Book Design Blog, 15 January 2014.
^Including two pairs of photographers:
Clegg & Guttmann [
Wikidata], and Ari Versluis & Ellie Uyttenbroek; therefore billed as "31 photographes réputés".
In Flanders the term flandrien refers to cyclists who display a strong work ethic, great perseverance, are powerful and who perform best in adverse weather conditions. Until the 1960s, only leading cyclists originating from the province of West- and East-Flanders were considered as flandriens. After 1960, the media extended the use of this term to Belgian cyclists in general and even to international cyclists. — Stef Van Puyenbroeck, et al., "Can Cancellara really be a Flandrien? Ethno-cultural identity representation predicts regional exclusivity of a historically contested cycling term", Psychologica Belgica, 58 (1), 19 March 2018.
doi:
10.5334/pb.358.
In 1993, while awaiting
military service, he made a trip to
New York, where he mostly did
street photography. He has described New York as his "entrance ticket" to the profession of photography.[3]
Co-founder of the publishing company Uitgeverij Kannibaal/Hannibal, he is also its artistic director. Since 2010, he has been a visiting professor at the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts in
Ghent.[4][12]
Elvis&Presley
In May 1999, Vanfleteren travelled around the USA with his friend the Swiss photographer
Robert Huber [
Wikidata], in the footsteps of their idol
Elvis Presley. They photographed each other, "in identical white jumpsuits, mirror shades and high-rise hair",[13] as "Elvis" (Huber) and "Presley" (Vanfleteren), in humdrum scenes from
Times Square to
Death Valley. Vanfleteren photographed in
black and white, Huber in colour. This led to
Vanfleteren's first major book[14] and
an exhibition.[13][15] Both photographers, said a reviewer of the exhibition at the
Open Eye Gallery, showed themselves to "have a fine eye for ironic composition".[13]
From reportage to portraiture
Vanfleteren's portraits have been his best-known and most recognizable work. Always in black and white, he has photographed many people from the art world but also many who are unknown. A review in Het Nieuwsblad of an exhibition of his portraits commented that Vanfleteren's proximity to the faces and the detail of the photographs together almost create "
death masks of the living".[16][n 1]
As an international project, Vanfleteren has given faces to numerous people living in poverty and isolation in Antwerp and Brussels. "While I focused on their eyes, I listened to their experiences."[3] In 2009 these portraits, along with others, became the subject of
an exhibition at
Le Botanique, a cultural centre in Brussels.[17] Most were taken with one of Vanfleteren's four
Rolleiflexes, as their
waist-level finders allowed him to get close.[2]: 205
In the same year, at
Wintercircus Mahy [
Wikidata],
Ghent, Vanfleteren exhibited Portret 1989–2009, around two hundred portraits in black and white of people who had had some media presence during the previous two decades.[16] The exhibition then went on tour.
In 2018, he published Surf Tribe, for which he had made a months-long journey around the world, making portraits of surfers. He went to the most celebrated beaches for surfing, but also little-known places in order to portray the most famous surfers, champions as well as unknown amateurs. He did not photograph them in motion but instead captured their static portraits on the beach.[3]
Belgicum
From September 2007 to February 2008, the exhibition Belgicum was held at
Fotomuseum Antwerp (FoMu). A review in La Libre described this:
Dilapidated buildings, outdated town fairs, unfashionable bars [. . .]. Series of portraits – one could call them mugs – of persons bearing the scars of their hard lives, landscapes engulfed in mist, a document of the repetitive days of an internee at the
Guislain Institute in Ghent and finally an un-embellished portrayal of Theofiel, an old farmer broken down amid a pile of objects. This is all "Belgicum"; and obviously, as the [book of the same title] also shows, this tragic Belgium of the little people between canals and side-roads is in fact that of a true
Simenon of photography.[18][n 2]
Charleroi
Vanfleteren was the fifth (after
Bernard Plossu, Dave Anderson,
Jens Olof Lasthein and Claire Chevrier) in a series of photographers to be provided with a residency at the
Museum of Photography [
Wikidata] in
Charleroi.[19][20] He produced a series of photographs, including many portraits, taken in that city, which had been greatly affected by deindustrialization. These were exhibited in the museum in 2015.
The exhibition was described on
RTBF as "a tender look at a harsh reality", and as having links to the work of
August Sander and
Walker Evans yet being the product of a singular vision.[21][n 3] A review in Moustique said:
Alone, free as a dog, sidling between fog and neon lights, in streets where memories of once flourishing industry disintegrate, or contemplating from the top of a slag heap a landscape where factories once spewed smoke, it is above all all the decay of the world that he encounters.[19][n 4]
Façades & Vitrines
With rare exceptions, Vanfleteren has only photographed in black and white. However, in 2013 he published a series of
colour photographs, taken several years earlier, of old wall advertisements, facades destined for demolition or abandoned shop windows; these appeared in a lavishly produced book, Façades & Vitrines.[22]
Stil leven
In 2016, Vanfleteren made a series of photographs for an exhibition, Stil leven, at the
Museum Oud Amelisweerd [
Wikidata] (MOA), in
Bunnik. Rejecting the museum's initial request for photographs of the
Atlantic Wall, he let himself be influenced by the environment of the museum and the surrounding park to realize a series of nudes, still lifes with dead animals, in both black and white and colour. His photos form a dialogue with the work of the painter
Armando, the building, and the surrounding nature.[23]
Present
In 2020, Fotomuseum Antwerp organized a major retrospective, Present, which followed Vanfleteren's thirty years of photography, with personal reflections: from street photography in cities such as New York to the Rwandan genocide, from store facades to the "darkly beautiful"[24] remains of the
Atlantic Wall, from still lifes to portraits.[5][25]
Present. FoMu Antwerp. October 2019 – September 2020.[93][n 10] Accompanied by
a book.
Corona walks. FoMu Antwerp. June–September 2020.[93][94] Accompanied by
a book.
Group exhibitions
Buren, document Nederland, drie buitenlandse fotografen kijken naar Nederland. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. November 2000 – February 2001. With
Eva Leitolf [
Wikidata] and
Mark Power.[95] Accompanied by
a book.
In de marge: Belgische documentaire fotografie = In the Margin: Belgian Documentary Photography = En marge: Photographie documentaire belge. Museum Dr. Guislain, Ghent, Belgium, June–September 2011.[96] Accompanied by
a book.
Facing Japan. With Marleen Daniëls, Nick Hannes,
Michiel Hendryckx [
Wikidata],
Jimmy Kets [
Wikidata], Maroesjka Lavigne, Tony Le Duc, Charlotte Lybeer, Sarah Van Marcke and Rob Walbers. Museum Dr. Guislain. June–September 2015.[101][102] Accompanied by
a book.
Faces Now: European Portrait Photography since 1990 = Faces Now: Portraits photographiques européens depuis 1990. By 33 photographers.[n 11] Accompanied by
a book.
Giganten van Afrika: De hoge vlucht van Nigeria's Super Eagles. By Jan Antonissen, Vincent Loozen, and Vanfleteren. Leuven: Van Halewyck, 1998.
ISBN9056171577.
Hans Vandekerckhove: schilderijen ter vervolmaking van methoden van onbeweeglijkheid. Otegem: Deweer Art Gallery, 2001. Accompanying an exhibition, March–April 2001.[n 24] Photographs of
Hans Vandekerckhove by Vanfleteren and Peter Claeys.
OCLC901161533.
Koers! Het rijke Vlaamse wielerleven in twaalf portretten. Text by Jeroen de Preter and Tony Landuyt; photographs by Vanfleteren. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff; Antwerp: Manteau, 2003.
ISBN9789059900059.
Verfraaiing: 12 werken uit de provinciale kunstcollectie, 12 creaties, 24 kunstenaarsportretten. Edited by Wendy Leplae and Chris Minten; photographs by Vanfleteren. Bruges: Provincie West-Vlaanderen, 2005.
OCLC901117845.
WielerSportCultuur. Text by
Frans Babylon [
Wikidata] and others; photographs by Vanfleteren. [S.l.]: Vlaams Ministerie van Sport, [2009].
OCLC495778638.
Karl Vannieuwkerke. Renner willen worden. Lichtervelde: Kannibaal 2010.
ISBN9789081389419. A memoir by the sports reporter Karl Vannieuwkerke. Vanfleteren contributes photographs.
Karl Dhont,
Stefaan Lammens [
Wikidata], and Vanfleteren. Stam N° 3: leven voor blauw-zwart. Lichtervelde: Kannibaal, 2011.
ISBN9789081623773. About the fans of
Club Brugge. Vanfleteren contributes photographs.
De Ronde: Een Zondag in April. Photographs by Vanfleteren. [Lichtervelde]: Hannibal, 2011.
ISBN978-90-8162-374-2. About the television series
De Ronde [
Wikidata].
In de marge: Belgische documentaire fotografie = In the Margin: Belgian Documentary Photography = En marge: photographie documentaire belge. Ghent: Museum Dr. Guislain; Tielt: Lannoo, 2011.
ISBN978-90-209-9627-2. With numerous other photographers. Includes Vanfleteren's series of photographs of a man named Étienne, who was caring for doves at
Dr Guislain Psychiatric Centre [
Wikidata] (
Ghent). Accompanied by
an exhibition.
En avant, marche! Over majorettes, harmonies, fanfares en andere blaasorkesten. By
Jan Matthys [
Wikidata], Hanne Delodder, Marijke Libert; with photographs by Vanfleteren. [Lichtervelde]: Hannibal, 2012.
ISBN9789491376245. Accompanied by
an exhibition.
The Great War 1914–18: In Flanders Fields Museum photographic collection. Veurne: Hannibal, 2013. Text in Dutch, French and English.
ISBN9789491376566. Photographs from the
In Flanders Fields Museum, edited under the supervision of
Piet Chielens and Vanfleteren.[113]
Helden op het water. By Leo van de Ruit and Vanfleteren. [Veurne]: Hannibal, 2014.
ISBN9789491376764.
Frits Giertsberg, ed. European Portrait Photography since 1990. Munich: Prestel, 2015.
ISBN9783791349275.
The Butcher's Book. [Veurne]: Hannibal, 2015.
ISBN978-94-9208-152-0. Text (in Dutch) by Hendrik Dierendonck, René Sépul and Marijke Libert; photography by Thomas Sweertvaegher and Vanfleteren.[n 28]
^Bâtisses délabrées, kermesses ringardes, bistrots borgnes, des ambiances qui se prolongent dans sept suites d'images installées en grand tout autour du reste de la salle. Séries de portraits – de gueules plus exactement – d'écorchés de la vie dure, paysages tous noyés dans la brume, constat des journées répétitives d'un interné de l'institut Guislain à Gand et enfin description au couteau de Theofiel, un vieux fermier cassé au milieu de son capharnaüm. C'est tout cela "Belgicum" et de toute évidence, comme le laisse voir également le très bel album éponyme, cette Belgique tragique des petites gens entre canal et trajectoires obliques est en fait celle d'un véritable Simenon de la photo.
^Il livre un reportage à fleur de peau et pose un regard tendre sur une réalité âpre. [. . .] Le reportage humaniste de Stephan Vanfleteren a la force du style documentaire qui le relie à des auteurs tels August Sander et Walker Evans, mais le regard du photographe est singulier.
^Seul, libre comme un chien, se faufilant entre brouillard et néons, dans des rues où s’écroulent les souvenirs d’une industrie autrefois florissante, ou contemplant du haut d’un terril un paysage où les usines vomissaient autrefois des nuages de fumée, c’est surtout toute la décrépitude du monde qu’il croise.
^For a personal description of the exhibition, see Kelly Steenlandt, "
Aller retour", kellysteenlandt.com, 12 April 2013.
^
abPhotographs of Façades & Vitrines – both the book and the show at the Broel Museum – are at "
Façades & Vitrines", The Book Design Blog, 15 January 2014.
^Including two pairs of photographers:
Clegg & Guttmann [
Wikidata], and Ari Versluis & Ellie Uyttenbroek; therefore billed as "31 photographes réputés".
In Flanders the term flandrien refers to cyclists who display a strong work ethic, great perseverance, are powerful and who perform best in adverse weather conditions. Until the 1960s, only leading cyclists originating from the province of West- and East-Flanders were considered as flandriens. After 1960, the media extended the use of this term to Belgian cyclists in general and even to international cyclists. — Stef Van Puyenbroeck, et al., "Can Cancellara really be a Flandrien? Ethno-cultural identity representation predicts regional exclusivity of a historically contested cycling term", Psychologica Belgica, 58 (1), 19 March 2018.
doi:
10.5334/pb.358.