Arteries or Nerves, either feeding or cleaning the Body Corporate Carel Blazer 50 jaar Bruynzeel 1897-1947 The Dutch Company Photobook Photography

Carel Blazer 50 jaar Bruynzeel 1897-1947
...in a famous double-page spread, ducting and pipes look like arteries or nerves, either feeding or cleaning the body corporate...

50 jaar Bruynzeel 1897-1947. [Text M. Redeke [Maurits Dekker] (firm's history). Photography Carel Blazer, Eva Besnyö. Illustrations, Layout: Jan Bons, Jaap Penraat].

Zaandam / 1947 / 130 p. / hb. / 33x26cm / 154 b&w photographs, in opdracht en uit bedrijfsarchief / bedrijfsreportage, documentaire foto's / productieproces, ontspanning, opleiding). - Ill. 20 color / schematische ontwerptekeningen en komische pentekeningen. / NN / Firmenschrift / Wirtschaft, Firmengeschichte - Photographie - Anthologie - Auftragsphotographie, commissioned photography - Nederland, Niederlande - 20. Jahrh. / Printed by Firma L. van Leer en Co, Amsterdam (offset). - Opdrachtgever: C. Bruynzeel & Zonen (50-jarig bestaan). - Voorloper van bedrijfsfotoboek met kenmerken van beeldverhaal. De indeling van het boek is thematisch, naar type eindproduct. In het laatste hoofdstuk is aandacht voor de sociaal-maatschappelijke kant van het bedrijf. De fabriek wordt metaforisch voorgesteld als een levend organisme.

The Dutch Photobook describes the relatively recent history of the famed Dutch photobook. Editors Rik Suermondt and Frits Gierstberg chose over 120 of the most significant Dutch photobooks and placed them in the context of developments in photography and society.

The post-Second World War Dutch photobook is unique because of the long tradition of graphic designers and photographers working closely together. It is highly prized abroad, and many photobooks have become part of the collections of museums and private collectors. This book shows the immense variety and allure of the Dutch photobook and makes it accessible to a broad audience.

Six chapters, organized both thematically and chronologically, examine company photobooks , photobooks about youth culture, landscape books, city books, travelogues and autonomous photobooks. For each theme, the 20 most noteworthy books are described and represented by gorgeous illustrations of their covers and parts of their contents.

Despite - or perhaps because - the digitization of photography, the traditional medium of the photo book is (still) enormously popular amongst contemporary photographers. They see the book as the ideal form to present their work and to tell their story. The Dutch photo book has built over the years a certain reputation. The close collaboration between graphic designers and photographers determined in the period after 1945 the quality of the Dutch photo books. Gerry Badger wrote: ": ‘One of the most active photobook cultures in the postwar years was Holland, rivalling and perhaps exceeding even France.” 

Open publication - Free publishing - More photobooks

An excerpt from "The Photobook: A History, Volume 2" by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger: "Almost as much as the Soviet propaganda books of the 1930s, postwar Dutch photobooks were total products. That is to say, the photographers were often just part of a larger team that included writers and graphic designers, with no single element having prominence over another.This was particularly true of company books in the 1950s and 1960s, but the trend was apparent even by the late 1940s, as seen in this fine early example of the way Dutch graphic designers eagerly grasped the opportunities that had been cut short by World War II. The photographer for 50 Jaar Bruynzeel was Carel Blazer, a leading light in the 'Underground Camera' and the radical GKf Group of documentary photographers. As such, and as a member of the Dutch Communist Party, his involvement in the production of a commercial company book may seem contradictory, but apart from the obvious reason of making a living, reconstruction was the main priority in postwar Holland, and as Bruynzeel was a timber and building products company, commerce and communism had overriding motives in common. Blazer's pictures are stolidly conventional in any case; the book's radicalism lies in its design, and the way in which the images are incorporated into the total graphic package.As is typical of many company books of the period, [this book's] ideological message presents man and machine as two aspects of a single entity. The complicated services and communications systems of the factory are compared to the human body with its arterial and neurological systems. In a famous double-page spread, ducting and pipes look like arteries or nerves, either feeding or cleaning the body corporate." (Martin Parr & Gerry Badger).

Carel Blazer 

In 1911 in Amsterdam geboren, overleden in Nijmegen in 1980. Sociaal en politiek bewogen mens, nam in zijn jeugd deel aan initiatieven tegen het opkomende fascisme. Fotografeerde tijdens de Spaanse Burgeroorlog. Was tijdens de bezetting actief in het verzet. Mede-oprichter van fotografenvereniging GKf. Leermeester van o.a. Ad Windig, Dolf Kruger en Paul Huf. In de jaren vijftig en zestig legde hij zich toe op reclame en industriële fotografie maar maakte ook reizen in binnen- en buitenland en fotografeerde dan mensen tijdens hun alledaagse bezigheden.

Carel Blazer (1911 - 1980) Photographer | Promote Your Page Too

the photo books of Carel Blazer

Carel Blazer. [Text W. Witkampf. Typ. Wim Crouwel]. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 28. März bis 5. Mai 1968.

Van duin tot ijsselmeer. [Text W. Hijmans (firm's history); G. A. Brederoo, M. M. P. Muir, van Oldenborgh, J. P. Kloos, Joost van den Vondel, J. van Nijlen en A. P. Tjechow (essay). Photography Carel Blazer. Layout Mart Kempers].

Zo reist uw stem per telefoon... [Photography Aart Klein, Carel Blazer. Vormgeving: Ton Raateland].

Oosterscheldebrug. [Text Max Dendermonde. Photography Carel Blazer, C.A.L. Kotvis, T. Slagboom. Layout Joh. Enschede en Zonen.

Nieuwe Matex / Amatex. [Text (voorlichting). Photography Carel Blazer, Frits Rotgans et al. Layout Jan Bons].

De zaak is rond: Een halve eeuw SKF in Nederland. [Text Max Dendermonde (essay). Photography Carel Blazer. Layout Mart Kempers].

Verkenning in het onbekende: Vijftig jaar Koninklijke Shell Laboratorium Amsterdam. [Text Sybren Polet (essay). Photography Carel Blazer. Layout Gerard Wernars.

Wegen naar morgen: Uitgave onder auspiciën van de Nederlandse Vereniging van Wegenbouwers. [plaats]. [Text Max Dendermonde; H.A.M.C. Dibbits. Photography Carel Blazer. Illustrations Opland. Layout Mart Kempers].

Willem Ruys. To see the world. [Text Max Dendermonde. Photography Carel Blazer. Illustrations: F.W. Michels. Layout Jurriaan Schrofer].

4 gaten in de grond. [Text Eugene Eberle. Photography Carel Blazer. Layout Benno Wissing].

N. Samsom NV Nieuwbouw 1959-1960. [Text Jan Blokker (bedrijfsgeschiedenis, beeldcommentaar). Photography Carel Blazer, P. de Pater, D. van der Poel. Layout Gerard Wernars].

De wereld van vandaag: Na vijftig jaar Vredestein. [Text Max Dendermonde (essay). Photography Carel Blazer, Cas Oorthuys, Ed van der Elsken, Cor van Weele. Illustrations: E. Dukkers, Aad Feldhoen, Mart Kempers, Frits Müller, B. Witteveen, H. Bartels, Peter van Straaten. Layout Mart Kempers].

Waar ook. Photography Carel Blazer (bedrijfsreportage); Cees van der Meulen; Frits Rotgans. Layout Dick Elffers].

100 jaar Grasso. [Text Eugene Eberle (firm's history). Photography Violette Cornelius, Carel Blazer. Illustrations, layout Benno Wissing]

Rotterdam. [Text P. Verhoog (firm's history). Photography Ad Windig, Frits Rotgans, Carel Blazer. Illustrations P. Klaasse. Layout P. Klaasse en Han de Vries].

The finishing touch: 100 jaar Twentsche Stoombleekerij NV door Max Dendermonde en Carel Blazer. [Text Max Dendermonde (firm's history). Photography Carel Blazer. Layout Gerard Wernars].

Gebroeders Klinkenberg Wormerveer 1855-1955: gedenkschrift ter gelegenheid van het honderdjarig bestaan van de N.V. Machinefabriek en Constructiewerkplaats Gebr. Klinkenberg. [Text J.W. Klinkenberg, W.P. Klinkenberg (foreword). Photography Carel Blazer. Layout Jurriaan Schrofer].

80 jaar van Leer.[Photography Carel Blazer, Victor Meeussen e.a. Illustrations: H. Pan. Layout: H. van Gemert].

50 jaar Bruynzeel 1897-1947. [Text M. Redeke [Maurits Dekker] (firm's history). Photography Carel Blazer, Eva Besnyö. Illustrations, Layout: Jan Bons, Jaap Penraat].

Amsterdam tijdens den hongerwinter.

Tromp, Ir. Th. P.

Verwoesting en wederopbouw. Revival of the Netherlands. Text Ir. Th. P. Tromp.