JOS HALSBERGHE (1912 - 2005)

This website is a tribute to the Flemish photographer, Jos Halsberghe

Jos Halsberghe (Berchem, 1912) studied at the Collège Marie-José in Antwerp. When he was seventeen he started his professional career as an employeer with serveral banks. Later he became team leader in a logistics company. His passion for photography came into being in the 1930s. During the Second World War he started working for the National Agricultural and Nutrition Society. In 1944 he was asked to make war reports in the region of Mechelen and Heist-op-den-Berg for the Gazet of Antwerp . In 1945 he officially started working as a clerk at the Gazet van Antwerpen . Later he worked as editor-in-chief of the weekly Sunday Friend (Zondagsvriend). In that position he made many reports about rural communities and their inhabitants.

At the age of 93, he left this world while surrounded by all of his children and beautiful music.

THE FORGOTTEN PHOTOGRAPHER

A particular part of his work was picked up again by the Davidfonds in 2013, by publishing his pictures of the Flemish rural scenery in the 50's. The book is a collection of Jos Halsberghe's weekly publications in the Zondagsvriend, a magazine from Gazet van Antwerpen.

His biography was written by Sarah Luyten, who described him as the forgotten photographer.

Jos Halsberghe already had a camera somewhere around 1935, which was quite exceptional in those days. He never followed any photography courses and was a true autodidact. By trying, analysing and learning from others, his hobby soon turned out into almost a full time and passionate occupation.