Nico Jesse Fabulous Paris in the '50s Photography

JESSE, NICO - COCTEAU, JEAN (INTROD.) & UTE VALLANCE. - Parijs Amsterdam/Brussel, Elsevier, 1962. Boards (hardcover), illustrated dustjacket, 27,8 x 20,5 cms., 304 pp. text in Dutch with 500 photographic illustrations, some in colour. Paris in all its aspects.

Nico Jesse best known for his photo-book Women of Paris, published in 1954; his candid pictures of women going about their daily occupations convey the vitality of the city. Two years later the book was reprinted in a paperback edition; over the next few years it appeared in several countries, including Japan. Characteristic of Jesse's work, the pictures reflect his unconventional, almost filmic treatment: people are the focal aspect and movement is often an essential element. The use of flashlight to make the figures stand out from the background is another typically Jessean device. It is not so very surprising that he made his name with a book, for his strength lay less in the individual image than in a succession of them.

Nico Jesse had studied medicine and for many years combined his profession as a general practitioner with his passion for photography. His interest in people motivated him in both capacities. In 1956 he retired from general practice to devote himself entirely to photography. His assignments came from various companies; he took photographs for annual reports and/or company publications and for many years photographed Amsterdam's important annual literary event, the Book Ball. He also produced in rapid succession a large number of photo-books featuring European cities and countries. It is clear from these books that he was more interested in the people and atmosphere of a city than in tourist attractions.

To Jesse, photography was always a means of rendering human relationships visible. In 1962 he returned to doctoring, but continued to take photographs. At his death in 1976 he left a large photographic oeuvre which conveys a wonderful picture of the Netherlands and Europe in the fifties and sixties. Nico Jesse on Facebook ...
See also Willy Ronis, the eye of Paris Photography by Charles Bremner ...  &   Dutch Eyes Lies Wiegman People of Paris Photography  ...


More Dutch photographers in Paris (1945-1965) : Emmy Andriesse , Sem Presser, Ad Windig,Fred Brommet, Kees Scherer, Cor Dekkinga, Henny Riemens en Paul Huf. Some photobook classics : Bonjour Paris of Cas Oorthuys (1951) en Vrouwen van Parijs of Nico Jesse (1954). The photonovels Ed van der Elsken Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint-Germain-des-Prés(1956), and Paris mortel (1963) by Joan van der Keuken.

Nico Jesse Fabulous Paris in the '50s Photography

JESSE, NICO - COCTEAU, JEAN (INTROD.) & UTE VALLANCE. - Parijs Amsterdam/Brussel, Elsevier, 1962. Boards (hardcover), illustrated dustjacket, 27,8 x 20,5 cms., 304 pp. text in Dutch with 500 photographic illustrations, some in colour. Paris in all its aspects.

Nico Jesse best known for his photo-book Women of Paris, published in 1954; his candid pictures of women going about their daily occupations convey the vitality of the city. Two years later the book was reprinted in a paperback edition; over the next few years it appeared in several countries, including Japan. Characteristic of Jesse's work, the pictures reflect his unconventional, almost filmic treatment: people are the focal aspect and movement is often an essential element. The use of flashlight to make the figures stand out from the background is another typically Jessean device. It is not so very surprising that he made his name with a book, for his strength lay less in the individual image than in a succession of them.

Nico Jesse had studied medicine and for many years combined his profession as a general practitioner with his passion for photography. His interest in people motivated him in both capacities. In 1956 he retired from general practice to devote himself entirely to photography. His assignments came from various companies; he took photographs for annual reports and/or company publications and for many years photographed Amsterdam's important annual literary event, the Book Ball. He also produced in rapid succession a large number of photo-books featuring European cities and countries. It is clear from these books that he was more interested in the people and atmosphere of a city than in tourist attractions.

To Jesse, photography was always a means of rendering human relationships visible. In 1962 he returned to doctoring, but continued to take photographs. At his death in 1976 he left a large photographic oeuvre which conveys a wonderful picture of the Netherlands and Europe in the fifties and sixties. Nico Jesse on Facebook ...
See also Willy Ronis, the eye of Paris Photography by Charles Bremner ...  &   Dutch Eyes Lies Wiegman People of Paris Photography  ...


More Dutch photographers in Paris (1945-1965) : Emmy Andriesse , Sem Presser, Ad Windig,Fred Brommet, Kees Scherer, Cor Dekkinga, Henny Riemens en Paul Huf. Some photobook classics : Bonjour Paris of Cas Oorthuys (1951) en Vrouwen van Parijs of Nico Jesse (1954). The photonovels Ed van der Elsken Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint-Germain-des-Prés(1956), and Paris mortel (1963) by Joan van der Keuken.

Blue Monday March 24 1975 Nieuwmarkt Amsterdam Photojournalism Photography

In Amsterdam one could even speak of a 'twenty-year civic war', which lasted from 1965 until 1985. The residents of the Nieuwmarkt city-centre neighbourhood, squatters and anarchist Provos fought side by side for the same standpoints: self-government instead of bureaucracy, liveability rather than economic growth, preservation of existing buildings instead of demolition and new development, and the safeguarding of neighbourhood culture instead of making way for mass consumption. 

In the 1970s many buildings on and around the Nieuwmarkt square were torn down to make way for a planned metro and highway which was to run right through the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood. This led to heavy rioting (the Nieuwmarktrellen ) in 1975 and, ultimately, abandonment of the highway plans. The metro, however, was constructed, and Nieuwmarkt is now a station.

AKTIEGROEP NIEUWMARKT - - Blauwe maandag. Omdat mijn huis daar stond, 24 maart 1975. Een verslag in fotoos van de gebeurtenissen die dag in de Amsterdamse Nieuwmarkt. (Uitgave van de Aktiegroep Nieuwmarkt); Tweede druk. 14x20,5 cm. Papieromslag. 64 pp.; oblong foto-boekje met bijschriften, met ca. 60 foto's door Pieter Broersma, Vincent Mentzel, Roberto-Peeters, Wim Ruigrok, Rob Stolk, Dolf Toussaint, Gerda van der Veen, Hannes Wallrafen en Koen Wessing, met enkele krantenartikelen en tekeningen in reproductie m.b.t. het verloop van de beruchte èn gehate ontruiming van panden in de Nieuwmarkt-buurt.

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07.15 ...

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greetings from the Nieuwmarkt ...

Ed van der Elsken's ‘Unvollendete' Tokyo Symphony Photography

Ed van der Elsken's ‘Unvollendete'

3-04-2010 - 20-06-2010

For the first time on show: Tokyo Symphony, an important piece of work which Van der Elsken was not able to finish himself due to his untimely death. Yet the installation has been realized based on 6.5 hours of audio recordings, personal notes and 1600 never published slides.Tokyo Symphony is a personal impression in image and sound of the overwhelming city of Tokyo by Holland's most famous photographer.

Ed van der Elsken (1925 - 1990) visited Japan a numerous of times during the eighties and made a large number of photos and audio recordings. He felt really at home and was fascinated by the Japanese culture, a mix of traditional values and habits, and influences of the western capitalist way of life. Intuitive he took pictures of people that intrigued him, mostly on the streets. He had planned to use the photos in an audiovisual installation, an ultimate tribute to Japan. Due to his untimely death, he never could achieve this presentation. Only piles of slides and handwritten notes seemed to testify his dream. To little to start something, how speculative it may be.

Until 2006, when researcher Frank Ortmann found back the sound recordings for the project in Van der Elskens personal archive. It was the reason to realise this special collaboration with Paradox and het Nederlands Fotomuseum, manager of the archives of Van der Elsken. For the realization of the installation - based on contemporary views on Ed van der Elskens work - was chosen for use of contemporary (digital) projection technology.

Sound Designer Mark Glynne "composed" a soundscape of the orginal and new material, Jeroen de Vries designed a spatial three screen installation that also displays notes. Curator Frank Ortmann did the research, and made the selection and compliation. Lees verder Minder brutaal in Japan ...

For more Japan ...

Ed van der Elsken's ‘Unvollendete' Tokyo Symphony Photography

Ed van der Elsken's ‘Unvollendete'

3-04-2010 - 20-06-2010

For the first time on show: Tokyo Symphony, an important piece of work which Van der Elsken was not able to finish himself due to his untimely death. Yet the installation has been realized based on 6.5 hours of audio recordings, personal notes and 1600 never published slides.Tokyo Symphony is a personal impression in image and sound of the overwhelming city of Tokyo by Holland's most famous photographer.

Ed van der Elsken (1925 - 1990) visited Japan a numerous of times during the eighties and made a large number of photos and audio recordings. He felt really at home and was fascinated by the Japanese culture, a mix of traditional values and habits, and influences of the western capitalist way of life. Intuitive he took pictures of people that intrigued him, mostly on the streets. He had planned to use the photos in an audiovisual installation, an ultimate tribute to Japan. Due to his untimely death, he never could achieve this presentation. Only piles of slides and handwritten notes seemed to testify his dream. To little to start something, how speculative it may be.

Until 2006, when researcher Frank Ortmann found back the sound recordings for the project in Van der Elskens personal archive. It was the reason to realise this special collaboration with Paradox and het Nederlands Fotomuseum, manager of the archives of Van der Elsken. For the realization of the installation - based on contemporary views on Ed van der Elskens work - was chosen for use of contemporary (digital) projection technology.

Sound Designer Mark Glynne "composed" a soundscape of the orginal and new material, Jeroen de Vries designed a spatial three screen installation that also displays notes. Curator Frank Ortmann did the research, and made the selection and compliation. Lees verder Minder brutaal in Japan ...

For more Japan ...

the Visit to Amsterdam in 1857 of Benjamin Brecknell Turner Amsterdam 1845 – 1875, The First Photographs Photography

The City Archives present a wide-ranging overview of Amsterdam’s rich photographic heritage from the third quarter of the nineteenth century. The exhibition brings together the very best photographs preserved from this period both from its own and other collections in the Netherlands and abroad. In the mid-1850s, photographers such as Pieter Oosterhuis started to market their work. Amateur photographers, such as Eduard Isaac Asser, Jan Adriaan van Eijk and Jacob Olie also began to make their mark. As well as presenting a richly varied picture of Amsterdam seen through the eyes of the photographers, the exhibition also showcases examples of a wide range of photographic techniques. Pride of place is reserved for the sixteen large format paper negatives of Amsterdam landscapes taken by British candle manufacturer and landscape photographer Benjamin Brecknell Turner during his visit to Amsterdam in 1857. Lees verder ...

Benjamin Brecknell Turner (1815-94) was one of the first, and remains one of the greatest, British photographers. His images were highly praised during his lifetime for their rustic beauty and grandeur.

Turner was born in London in 1815. At 16 he entered work there in the family candle and saddle soap business. In 1849 he took out a licence to practice paper negative  photography from its inventor, William Henry Fox Talbot, when the new art was barely 10 years old. Turner quickly mastered the art and exhibited at the world's first public photographic exhibition, held at London's Society of Arts in 1852, where he was singled out as one of the best contributors. In 1855 he won a medal at the Paris Exhibition Universelle and continued exhibiting his photographs until the 1880s.

Gentleman-amateur photographers like Turner contributed to the rapid technical and aesthetic development of the medium that occurred in the 1850s. They furthered discussion through meetings and journals, exchanged technical findings and photographic prints and exhibited in a network of clubs and societies devoted to the art of the photograph.

While basing his images on traditionally 'picturesque' styles and subjects of the generation of watercolour painters before him, Turner forged a new visual sensibility in which the capacity of photography to record the fine textures of the natural world became a new force of expression.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner

'Hawkhurst Church, Kent'
England
1852-54
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.54-1982

Hawkhurst's 14th century church - with its 15th century tower - is in this image perfectly reflected in the still village pond on a bright winter morning. The bundles of sticks stacked up to the right may be poles used for growing hops, or willow branches that would have been soaked in the pond to soften them for fashioning into fences, baskets or suchlike. Given that the mirrored image is a house of God, the scene can be read as a meditation on the nature of divine truth and its reflection in the physical world. Turner's alternative title for the picture - A Photographic Truth, which he used when it was exhibited at the Royal Society of Arts in 1852 - suggests it can also be understood as a comment on the self reflexive nature and philosophical possibilities of photography