Egbert haverkamp-begemann biography template

Obituary: Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann (1923-2017)

Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann’s family shared the news of his passing on August 5, 2017.

Egbert touched generations of scholars and collectors of Dutch and Flemish art through his comprehensive knowledge, superior eye, and generous mentorship. His love of objects—in the context of the museum, private collection, or auction house—was one of the defining features of his practice of art history. His early years in art history were shaped by I.Q. van Regteren Altena in Amsterdam and writing his doctoral thesis under J.G. van Gelder in Utrecht (degree conferred in 1958). He worked at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen before coming to the United States in 1959 to take brief positions at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and at Harvard University. At Yale University from 1960 to 1974 he was Curator of Drawings and Prints in the Art Gallery, and then department chair for his final four years. In 1978 his long tenure began at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.  He was John Langeloth Loeb Professor in the History of Art, and continued as an emeritus professor until his passing at the age of 94. He was a Guggenheim Fellow, Curator of Dutch and Flemish Paintings at the M

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The Building of a Career in Dutch Art: Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann in Conversation with Eijk van Otterloo

Transcribed by Laura E. Antoniotti and Carol H. Kusinitz

Edited by Jacquelyn Coutré and Stephanie Dickey

The Foundation of a Library and a Fascination with Art

EGBERT: The library basically started with my interest in the history of art.  I became interested in the history of art as a boy of twelve and then bought some books.  I don’t think that any of those actually have been preserved.

But from the 1940s – by that time, I was seventeen, in 1940 – I bought some books.  And I always put my signature and the date of the acquisition of every book.  Sometimes I forgot, but as a rule I did so.

And so I have some books from 1941, ’42, about Dutch art.  There is a book, for instance, which is called – which is about the Dutchness of Dutch art.  So that was exactly something for a boy who wanted to know about art.  And so I bought those things.

EIJK: If I may stop you for a moment.  Your first book was bought around age twelve.  So what led up to your motivation to buy a book about Dutch art at age twelve?

EGBERT: Actually, what led up to it was a friendship my parents had with a Dutch journalist, a radical socialist, actually, Henri, H-e-n-r-i, Wiessing.  You may h