Comprised of over 29,000 pictures, the André Van Bever {Photograph} Assortment will be a part of over 120 archival collections already chosen by the Florida-based Revs Institute for preservation. The pictures shall be listed and digitized, making Van Bever’s work accessible to researchers, students, and lovers by means of the Revs Digital Library.
“All through his profession, André Van Bever chronicled motor racing historical past, from Juan Manuel Fangio in 1949 to Niki Lauda in 1975, making him one of the famend visible witnesses of post-war motorsport,” says Scott George, Curator of Collections at Revs Institute.
Born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1922, numerous pursuits marked André’s adolescence, from trains to mountaineering and horseback driving. His household’s background in jewellery didn’t resonate with him, and pictures grew to become his true calling.
The digital camera allowed him to discover his love for motion, discovery, and artistry. André Van Bever’s profession in photojournalism started in 1946 when, on the early age of 18, he coated a bike race on the Bois de la Cambre in Brussels as a favor for a good friend. It was at this similar race he met author and racing driver Paul Frère, who grew to become his nice good friend and regularly used Van Bever’s pictures in his articles and books. André ultimately befriended most of the nice Belgian drivers of his time, together with Olivier Gendebien, Lucien Bianchi, and Willy Mairesse.
In 1947, Van Bever started a 28-year tenure because the official photographer of Belgian newspaper Les Sports activities. Collectively together with his spouse and collaborator, Nicole Englebert-Van Bever, André coated the good European races of the Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties. Later, as a freelancer, he continued to cowl racing till 1975. His work graced the pages of publications comparable to Royal Auto, Le Moniteur de l’Vehicle, Sport Moteur, Virage, Autosport, Auto Motor und Sport, Automobile and Driver, and extra. His dedication to preserving the historical past of motorsport and his creative method to pictures made him an iconic determine within the business.
Past motorsport, André Van Bever had an innate ardour for pictures that prolonged into his private life. He documented buddies, strangers, and the world round him, at all times searching for to seize the pure, dwelling side of his topics. He was a wonderful gentleman-rider, too, and returned to racing horses on the age of 53.
