Fryslân Revisited Andries Deinum Photography

ANDRIES DEINUM (1918-1995), the son of a shopkeeper in the Dutch town of Workum, immigrated in 1938 to the United States, where he worked in Hollywood with such directors as Joris Ivens, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang.

Ultimately, however, his claim to fame in that new continent was as a pioneer in the field of film studies. But his native province of Friesland remained dear to his heart.

In 1946 he spent eight weeks - "the most wonderful weeks of my life" - in the southwest corner of Friesland. Using a Rolleiflex camera, he took stunning photographs of the towns, villages and surrounding farmlands.

The negatives of this unique series of photographs have been preserved and are in surprisingly good condition, with only occasional traces of their long journey through time. Now, at long last, these photographs have seen the light of day in book form.

The life and work of Andries Deinum is described in introductions written by historian and Frisian television producer Geart de Vries and by Portland State film-studies professor Brooke Jacobson. The Frisian poet Tsjêbbe Hettinga also wrote ten new poems for this special edition, drawing for his inspiration on the letters and photographs of Andries Deinum as well as on the landscape of his beloved province.

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