In Memoriam: Ewald Vanvugt (1943-2025)

Vanvugt was not only a welcome guest at the IISG, we are also the custodians of his photo collection and personal archive, which includes images and correspondence from his many travels through Asia and America. From 2009 to 2019, he met with colleague Frank de Jong about fifty times to digitize prints and negatives and to compile sets of photographs based on themes in his images. This resulted in 39 sets with themes such as tourists, people eating, and street theater. The sets can be viewed on the platform Flickr.

Ewald Vanvugt was born in Den Bosch on April 16, 1943. He was a jack of all trades; he made reports with Wim de Bie for the weekly VARA program 'Uitlaat' (1964-1967), traveled with Peter ten Hoopen and others through Central and West Asia (1968-1971), and traveled through India and North and South America between 1969 and 2005. He photographed all kinds of subjects on his travels: from mothers with children to colonial monuments. Vanvugt can also regularly be found in his own photographs.

In addition, he published books on the opium trade in the Dutch East Indies and on the Dutch colonial past. His best-known work is Roofstaat (Plunder State). This is the updated and expanded version of his earlier work Nieuw Zwartboek van Nederland overzee (New Black Book of the Netherlands Overseas) (2002). In this work, Vanvugt is one of the first in the Netherlands to address the dark side of the Dutch overseas and colonial past.

Vanvugt's photo collection and personal items can be found on our website.

The images below are from his photo collection.

Moskou, 1989 - Uit de set 'Geliefden'

Stierenvechter, Bogotá, Colombia, 1974 - uit de set 'Mannen'

Vietnam veteraan zoekt een (goede) baan, Los Angeles, 1976 - uit de set 'Ploeteraars'