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novembre 25, 2020 - Rijks Museum

Rijksmuseum. Newly-Discovered Ed van der Elsken Photobook to be Published for the First Time


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Newly-Discovered #edvanderelsken Photobook to be Published for the First Time

The #rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum have discovered the design mock-up for a never-published photobook in the estate of #edvanderelsken. The two museums acquired the estate of this renowned Dutch photographer at the end of 2019. Among the many surprises and forgotten photographs was a design for a photo book titled feest (feast), which Van der Elsken made in the 1950-1960 period.

For unknown reasons, it was never published. feest contains photographs of a succession of festive events and the accompanying euphoria. In consultation with the photographer’s family, the two museums are now posthumously publishing the book. Van der Elsken’s design mock-up is part of the Ed van der Elsken: Crazy World exhibition, which opens on 30 October at the #rijksmuseum.

feest will be available from 24 October and is published through a partnership between the #rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum.

Taco Dibbits, director of the #rijksmuseumEd van der Elsken gained international renown thanks in particular to his photobooks. This makes the discovery of feest all the more remarkable. feest captures an era, from the 1950s to the early 60s. You see extremes: from funfairs to state visits, from smiles to tears. You see #people connecting and #people letting go. Most of all, you see what it is that brings #people together.

The discovery of ‘feest’

For many years, Ed van der Elsken’s widow Anneke Hilhorst looked after photographer’s artistic estate with love and care in their wooden house on IJsselmeerdijk in Edam. She took the decision in late 2019 to transfer the estate to the #rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum. For the curators, this marked the beginning of their research into the Van der Elsken working archive, comprising 11,000 objects.

One of many surprises was the mock-up design of feest, a photo book that #edvanderelsken compiled in roughly the same period that he was working on his magnum opus Sweet Life. In the case of feest he drew extensively on early and recent photographs from his archive. As well as showing #people in the party mood, with all the joy and pleasure that entails, there’s also the post-party sweat and tears. feest includes a number of never before seen photographs, including one of HM Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in the Ridderzaal in The Hague, together with Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands on a state visit in 1958. Additional images being published for the first time include photographs #edvanderelsken took at the end of the 1950’s and beginning of the 1960’s in #amsterdam, at events such as the notorious book ball at the Concertgebouw building and the birthday party of Belgian author Hugo Claus.

The core of the book is formed by a group of 134 photographs, the earliest of which are from around 1950, shortly after Van der Elsken’s career got underway. The last photographs are from 1960. Precisely when Van der Elsken embarked on the design of the book, how long he worked on it, and what stage it had reached when he stopped, is unknown. The self-made cover with title, along with the selection of photographs, and the note about its length, suggests it was approaching completion. It is unclear why Van der Elsken never took it further than the unfinished design.

Ed van der Elsken: pioneer of the subjective viewpoint

Ed van der Elsken photographed in the Netherlands, Paris, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico, the United States and Indonesia – in short, all over the world. With his characteristically direct and disarming manner he was the epitome of the people’s photographer, and his oeuvre is extraordinarily rich and multifaceted. His directness opened the door to capturing the essence of his subjects’ humanity, and he used his uniquely raw and personal style to show that photography is about so much more than snapshots; his work is a manifestation of a personal vision. Van der Elsken is recognised internationally as one of the pioneers of the subjective viewpoint in perceiving and portraying #people and the world through photography.

‘feest’, 60 years on

The book, which will be released on 24 October, includes a foreword by Birgit Donker, director of the Nederlands Fotomuseum, and Taco Dibbits, director of the #rijksmuseum. The Rijksmuseum’s curators of photography Mattie Boom and Hans Rooseboom compiled the book and co-authored the essay.

feest
ISBN (Dutch edition) 978–94–6208–606–7
ISBN (English edition) 978–94–6208–607–4
Dimensions 17.5 x 11.5 cm
Pages 224 pages
Price €19.50

Ed van der Elsken: Crazy World, in the Rijksmuseum

The Ed van der Elsken: Crazy World exhibition, which opens on 30 October at the #rijksmuseum, centres on the photographer’s working archive. The acquisition by the #rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum of Ed van der Elsken’s artistic estate offers the best possible opportunity to gain an understanding of the working method of one of the Netherlands’ best-known photographers. The more than 100 objects in the exhibition – including the mock-up design for Van der Elsken’s photo book feest – allows us to look over his shoulder and discover how he worked.

Ed van der Elsken: Crazy World runs from 30 October 2020 to 10 January 2021 at the #rijksmuseum. The exhibition is the result of a partnership between #rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam, and was made possible by Fonds 21.

feest at the Nederlands Fotomuseum

Starting on 30 October, the Nederlands Fotomuseum will be staging a display of seven photographs from the book alongside the corresponding contact sheets. The contact sheets reveal how #edvanderelsken went about his work, and the decisions he took, first when actually taking the photographs and then in the darkroom.

Ed van der Elsken’s estate was for a large part donated by Anneke Hilhorst, and partly purchased with the support of the Mondriaan Fund, the Rembrandt Association (thanks in part to its dedicated Photography and Video Fund and Dura Kunstfonds), BankGiro Lottery players, the Paul Huf Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund and the Marque Joosten and Eduard Planting Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund.

www.rijksmuseum.nl