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Pictures of a Factory For CEO’s Only Foto Industria Bologna 2013 Kurt Blum Company Photography

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BLUM, Kurt: Pictures of a Factory, 1959

BLUM, Kurt, Pictures of a Factory. / Photographs by Kurt BLUM. Text by Michele Parrella. Cover by Eugenio Carmi. – Zürich: Fretz & Wasmuth 1959. – 28,5 x 23,0 cm. [16] S. Text, [104] S. mit 101 Tiefdruck-Abb., Beiblatt «List of illustrations». Halbleinenband illustriert. Ohne Schutzumschlag erschienen. 


Blum was the subject of a 2012 retrospective at the Swiss Foundation for Photography . Immagine di una fabbrica is included in 802 Photo Books. A selection from the M+M. Auer collection "Kurt Blum (1922-2005), who was born in Berne, was one of the outstanding Swiss photographers of the post-war era. In addition to numerous stories for illustrated magazines, as of the 1950s he also did free artistic and experimental works which were presented to a wider public in exhibitions and publications. The focal points of his oeuvre were the artists’ portraits he took as of the late 1940s, larger work groups on the themes of dance and opera, and an intense involvement through photography and film with the world of industry and labor. Blum always regarded himself as an artist, however, and strove for photography to be recognized as an independent art medium. Above and beyond the documentary aspect, he sought subjective expressiveness, the atmospherically dense moment, the consciously composed photographic print. Blum thus belonged to the avant-garde of Swiss photography, so it is not surprising that he also played a role in the 'subjective photography' circle around Otto Steinert in Germany in the early 1950s....Kurt Blum worked for large industrial companies in northern Italy, leading in 1959 to the book Pictures of a factory (German title Lebendiger Stahl, 1960), in which he presented an almost infernal image of a steel works, sparks flying, by means of black-and-white photographs rich in contrasts"--Swiss Foundation for Photography 




For CEO’s Only is a selection of international company photobooks from the private collection of professional photographer Bart Sorgedrager, based in Amsterdam. Research assistant Clara Jankowski (MA Master Photographic Studies, Leiden University) has compiled a bibliography and captions for this particular selection of company photobooks and is presented in the exhibition as FOR CEO’S ONLY (alluding to the title of a company photobook by Richard Avedon for M&A Group in New York).



















For CEO’s Only Company Photobooks by Richard Avedon Lee Friedlander Kurt Blum Albert Renger-Patzsch Robert Doisneau William Klein Germaine Krull Margaret Bourke-White Edouard Boubat Paul Wolff Andre Kertesz Photography

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For CEO’s Only is a selection of international company photobooks from the private collection of professional photographer Bart Sorgedrager, based in Amsterdam. Research assistant Clara Jankowski (MA Master Photographic Studies, Leiden University) has compiled a bibliography and captions for this particular selection of company photobooks and is presented in the exhibition as FOR CEO’S ONLY (alluding to the title of a company photobook by Richard Avedon for M&A Group in New York).


For CEOs Only

AVEDON, Richard

Published by [New York: M&A Group, 2002

First Edition. Small square quarto. A company book intended to advertise a series of M&A Group meetings for CEOs on June 27, 2002, in New York. Features 21 photographs by Richard Avedon of CEOs at previous M&A Group events on June 21, November 29, and November 30, 2001. One spread portrays Stephen P. Kaufman, the CEO of Arrow Electronics, comparing Black Amex cards with Harvey Golub, former CEO of Amex, while Joseph P. Nacchio, CEO of Qwest, chimes in with his early mobile phone. Rare and little-known Avedon item; no copies in OCLC. Light edgewear, else fine in printed boards with a square cutout on the front board and a stone mounted to the front page. Two photo mounts on the inside of the rear pastedown suggest a photograph was either present or intended, perhaps of one of the CEOs pictured in the book. Housed in a custom clamshell box. 





CRAY at Chippewa Falls
Publisher: Cray Research, Inc., Minneapolis
Year of publication: 1987
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth; pasted label on front panel)
Size: 310 x 300 mm
Number of pages: 96
Number of illustrations: 79 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: photo reportage; documentary photography
Printer: Franklin Graphics, Inc., Nashville
Type of reproduction: offset lithography
Print run: 5000
Photography:Lee Friedlander
Text: Stuart Klipper (afterword)
Type: commemoration book (15 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

‘In 1986 Cray Research, Inc. invited American master photo grapher Lee Fried lander (1934) to create a photo-illustrated book commemorating the company’s 15th anniversary. Friedlander took these photographs at Cray Research, Inc., Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, birthplace of the Cray-1 supercomputer—then the fastest computer in the world. The book includes a range of subjects shot in Friedlander’s characteristic style: sober images of shop fronts and empty streets, views of the landscape and underbrush surrounding Chippewa Falls and close-up shots of workers. The result was a landmark visual record documenting the assembly of this awe-inspiring supercomputer and the people who made it.’ From: https://museum.stanford.edu/news_room/friedlander.html

Pictures of a factory
Publisher: Fretz & Wasmuth Editions, Zürich
Year of publication: 1961 (2nd edition); 1959 (1st edition)
Binding: hardcover
Size: 285 x 230 mm
Number of pages: 102
Number of illustrations: 101 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography
Printer: Fretz Brothers Ltd. Zürich, Switzerland
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Photography: Kurt Blum
Text: Michele Parrella
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

‘Kurt Blum [1922-2005] worked for large industrial companies in northern Italy, leading in 1959 to the book Pictures of a factory (reprinted in German language in 1960, title: Lebendiger Stahl), in which he presented an almost infernal image of steel works, sparks flying, by means of black-and-white photographs rich in contrasts. Above and beyond the documentary aspect, he soughtsubjective expressiveness, the atmospherically dense moment, conscious composedphotographic print. Blum belonged to the avant-garde of Swiss photography, so it is notsurprising that he also played a role in the “subjective photography” circle around Otto Steinert in Germany in the early 1950s.’ From: Swiss Foundation for Photography

Henkel
Publisher: Henkel & Cie GmbH, Düsseldorf
Year of publication: 1951
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth)
Size: 285 x 237 mm
Number of pages: 72
Number of illustrations: 34 color photographs
Type of illustrations: photo reportage; archival photography
Printer: A. Bagel, Düsseldorf
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Henkel Archive
Text: H.C. Hugo Henkel (prologue)
Type: commemoration book (75 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

This commemoration photobook celebrates the success story of a family business in chemical products that involved three generations across 75 years. The introduction tells the reader the story from Dr. Hugo Henkel’s (1881-1952) point of view. He embodies the third generation in the family business and describes how the factory began as a playground for him and later became his laboratory. His grandfather Fritz Henkel founded the company in 1876 in Aachen. Hugo Henkel became the first chemical engineer within the business. After 70 years of labor Henkel is looking back on the progression and innovation of their company. A new generation is about to take over. The layout is straightforward with on every left page a few lines of text and on the right page a bleeding image, sometimes with white bars on the bottom or on the upper side of the page. Because most of the photographs are highly retouched, everything depicted looks spotless and bright, even dark interiors like the shop floor.

Câbleries et tréfileries de Cossonay [Cables and wires of Cossonay]
Publisher: Câbleries et Tréfileries De Cossonay, Cossonay
Year of publication: [1972]
Binding: hardcover
Size: 280 x 240 mm
Number of pages: 72
Number of illustrations: 53 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: abstract and documentary photography
Printer: Jean Genoud, Lausanne
Type of reproduction: photolithography
Photography: Marcel Imsand
Type: commemoration book (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Câbleries et tréfileries de Cossonay is the result of a cooperation between photographer Marcel Imsand (1929) and the Swiss cable and wire company. This company photobook was produced in the French-speaking section of Switzerland; the publication of company books in that area has developed slower than in the German region. Marcel Imsand received much artistic freedom from the company, reflected in some of the chapter’s titles in the book: ‘Human’, ‘Machine’ and ‘Material’. Imsand photographed wires and cables to place emphasis on repetition, lines and form and thereby created visually rhythmic sequences. The selection of large images and use of full bleed, across the bind seam and in different sizes, create a dynamic design to complement the objects depicted. Imsand’s signature is explicit: black & white, coarse grain, close ups and expressive abstract photographs.

PROGRES [PROGRESS]
Publisher: Société anonyme Manufacture Belge de Lampes et de Matériel Électronique, Brussels
Year of publication: 1966
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth with pattern in relief)
Size: 325 x 237 mm
Number of pages: 226
Number of illustrations: 61 black & white photographs; 5 color
Type of illustrations: photo collages; abstract and portrait photography
Printer: l’Imprimerie Wellens-Pay, Brussels
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Print run: 5000
Photography: Jacques Richez
Design: Jacques Richez
Text: Lucien Massart (introduction); André Maurois; Harry Melville; e.g.
Type: commemoration book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

This book contains an historical resume, suggesting that illustrious men have been determining progress for all of mankind. The book attributes modern society to the invention of electricity. Electronic devices play a major role in everyday life. Jacques Richez (1918) was a gifted designer, draughtsman and experimental photographer. With his skills he added new dimensions to drawing and photography. PROGRES is exceptional in terms of size, color, typography and layout, tactility and shape. The book is richly illustrated with portraits, handwritten notes, line drawings and photo collages on sturdy metallic paper. Richez created subdivisions within the book by using different types of paper: matted or glossy, thick or thin. The result is a luxurious edition with a futuristic touch. The book includes texts from memorable philosophers and scientists. PROGRES was made in commemoration of Marcel Hublou and commisioned by Société anonyme Manufacture Belge de Lampes et de Matériel Électronique.

75 Jahre Brown Boveri 1891-1966
Publisher: Brown Boveri & Cie., Baden
Year of publication: 1966
Binding: hardcover (faux leather; black spine on cream board)
Size: 243 x 240 mm
Number of pages: 290
Number of illustrations: 77 black & white photographs; 147 color
Type of illustrations: archival, historical, product landscape and documentary photography
Printer: Conzett & Huber, Zürich
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Otto Daettwyler; Werkarchiv
Design: Pit Günter
Text: Peter Rinderknecht; Otto Mittler
Type: commemoration book (75 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Swiss electrical engineering company, Brown Boveri & Cie published this comme moration book. The publication contains an historical overview from 1891 until 1966. The content focuses on expansion, development and corporate accomplishments. Both French-language and English-language editions were published. The book is divided into three sections: historical overview, company formation, and the human dimension of the industry. The book contains a wide variety of types of illustrations: from factual graphs to archival images. The cover contains a minimal line illustration. Most of the pictures taken in the factory halls were made with flashlight exposure, resulting in images appear like staged photography, comparable to the suspense tangible in the photographs by the Canadian artist Jeff Wall (1946). Text and image are evenly balanced in a mosaic layout. Brown Boveri & Cie produced a wide range of industrial products: electrical motors, generators, steam and gas turbines, and transformers.

150 Jahre Habig
150 years Habig
150 ans Habig
Publisher: Busche, Dortmund
Year of publication: 1959
Binding: hardcover (satin cloth; spiral; first sheet transparent plastic; one foldout)
Size: 240 x 170 mm
Number of pages: 84
Number of illustrations: 35 black & white photographs; 22 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; aerial photographs; photo collage; documentary and
commercial photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Eick Emsdetten; H. Harz; Aero-lux
Design: E. Zander
Text: Heinrich Haber Jr.
Type: commemoration book (150 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

This little commemoration book was published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the German fabric company Habig. The satin cover is made with a fabric design from the Habig collection: red, yellow and white stripes on a black background. The pages are interspersed by thick matted paper every time in a different pastel color. The bright retouched color photographs reflect the fabrics made in the factory. The book contains many nearly page-filling illustrations. The accompanying texts are often witty and ironic in nature, such as: ‘The pensioner. Looking into the evening does not symbolize the end.’

Kupferhammer Grünthal Vierhundert Jahre deutscher Arbeitskultur [Kupferhammer Grünthal 400 Years
of German Work Culture]
Publisher: C G Röder, Leipzig
Year of publication: 1937
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth; engraved emblem on cover)
Size: 305 x 230 mm
Number of pages: 140
Number of illustrations: 50 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: landscape, portrait and documentary photography
Photography: Albert Renger-Patzsch
Design: C G Röder
Text: Ernst von Laer
Type: commemoration book (400 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

This company book was made for the 400th anniversary of the sheet copper working firm of F A Lange in 1937, and according to Gerry Badger it contains some of Albert Renger-Patzsch’s (1897-1966) finest work. ‘Kupferhammer Grünthal is a sumptuously produced book, demonstrating the full range of Renger-Patzsch’s talents, and revealing an eye that was none too adventurous, but always interesting.’ (Parr; Badger, 2006: 186) The book depicts a workers community as well as landscapes and portraits. The combination of types of photography that Renger-Patzsch applied create an in depth visual documentary study. The style the photographer embraced has been considered a forerunner of the studies Paul Strand made of various European communities in the 1950s and 1960s. See also: Badger, Gerry & Martin Parr (ed.), The Photobook: A History volume 2, Phaidon Press, London: 2006

Henschel Lokomotiven
Publisher: Henschel & Sohn A.G., Kassel
Year of publication: 1931
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth with title and logo in relief; three foldouts)
Size: 300 x 215 mm
Number of pages: 160
Number of illustrations: numerous black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: product and landscape photography
Printer: Röderdruck, Leipzig
Type: promotional catalogue
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Henschel Lokomotiven contains different models of locomotives and engines produced by the firm with the same name. The book provides a grand tour of the world of locomotives built by the company intended for export. The book has the appearance of a collector’s guide. Henschel’s products are sold within Germany as well as internationally; the models of locomotives are ranked by country. Every page contains multiple images: one background image and smaller-framed photographs in front. The layout has a wide variety of style interventions: double spreads, bleeding images, images with duotone color layers, and a bold upper cast typeface. On three foldouts cross sections of locomotives are displayed.

Wetzlar und die Stahlwerke Röchling-Buderus A.G. [Wetzlar and the Steel Mills Röchling-Bunderus A.G.]
Publisher: Röchlingstahl, Wetzlar
Year of publication: 1965
Binding: hardcover (plastic cover; inside work glued to the cover)
Size: 150 x 220 mm
Number of pages: 40
Number of illustrations: 35 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; (urban) landscape and documentary photography
Printer: W. Bechstein, Wetzlar
Type of reproduction: offset
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

This small publi cation, Wetzlar und die Stahl werke Röchling- Buderus A.G., places the steel mills central in the history of Wetzlar by introducing the small town and zooming in on the factory and the shop floor. The hard plastic oblong cover is illustrated with a map of Wetzlar that gives the impression of the steel mills as a tourist attraction. The first spread shows a collage of laborers leaving the factory after work; the background image is a birds-eye view on the factory printed on an olive green stripe pattern. The booklet contains illustrations in a variety of sizes most of which are overlaid with red and yellow color fields. The book concludes with a direct message to the reader: The quality of the product is its selling point; this is what the company explicitly wants to communicate.

Du, Mensch…[You, Creature…]
Publisher: Huber & Co. AG., Frauenfeld
Year of publication: 1962
Binding: paperback
Size: 218 x 225 mm
Number of pages: 47
Number of illustrations: 49 black & white photographs; 1 color
Type of illustrations: product, commercial and documentary photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Jürg Klages; Beringer & Pampaluchi; Conzett & Huber; e.g.
Design: Jürg Klages, Zürich
Text: Willi Fava, Frauenfeld
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Du, Mensch… is a nearly square and thin publi cation about the origins and the usage of different types of leather. Consis tently, images of animals and nature are juxtaposed to those of human beings and leather products. The book consists of anthropological images and product photography, mostly cut out in black & white. Photographer and designer Jürg Klages (1924) used horizontal primary colored bars intersecting with the images. Some of his photographs suggest a tactile quality referring to leather. In a poetic and moralizing manner the reader is narrated from Eskimos to Africans and from the prairie to the desert. The story concludes with the prophetic note that leather is an indispensable product worldwide and essential to human beings now and in the future.

Peugeot Fréres, berceau des entreprises Peugeot [Peugeot Brothers, a cradle of enterprises by Peugeot]
Publisher: Peugeot et Cie, Valentigney
Year of publication: 1953
Binding: soft cover (with folded cardboard jacket)
Size: 280 x 215 mm
Number of pages: 71; 1 fold out
Number of illustrations: 98 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Photography: Robert Doisneau
Design: Jean Vallée
Text: Pierre Mac Orlan (preface)
Type: yearbook
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

With the publication of this yearbook the longstanding French car company Peugeot proclaims international success. However the emphasis of the publication is not about car models. The geographical and historical roots of Peugeot Fréres are the starting point, from there the reader is introduced to the industrial manufacturing of a diversity of products, e.g., steel strips for dressmaking, saws and springs for watch making. The gold pasted label on the cover and the two golden emblems inside gives the book allure. The designer Jean Vallée integrates texts and photographs by way of blue triangle text balloons. The photographs, made by French renowned professional photographer Robert Doisneau (1912-1994), vary in size and position on the page; some overlap in a mosaic-like layout.

Unanimite [Unanimity]
Publisher: Société Anonyme André Citroën, Paris
Year of publication: [1968]
Binding: soft cover (saddle stitched)
Size: 230 x 328 mm
Number of pages: 20
Number of illustrations: 27 color photographs
Type of illustrations: street photography
Printer: Delpire Publicité, Paris
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: William Klein
Type: promotional catalogue
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Citroën - producer of among the most avant-garde car designs ever marketed on a main stream basis - collabo rated regularly with author photographers, which over the years included Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jean-Paul Goude, and Marc Riboud. Following his key publication New York 1954-1955 (1956) William Klein (1928) photographed Unanimite with a snapshot approach. For this catalogue, Klein zoomed in on the futuristic, aerodynamic design elements that made the DS [DS stands for Déesse and means Goddess in French] one of the most unique cars ever made. Klein photographed the gracious French DS model in New York City and by doing so he suggests similar characteristics between the car and the metropolis. Klein’s photographs depict movement as a metaphor of speed. Velocity is reflected in the layout: with diagonally text captions, big tilted images and repeated circles with flag patterns of the export countries. See also: http://bintphotobooks.blogspot.nl/2008/04/william-klein-french-goddess-citron-ds.html

Nestlé, usine de Saint-Menet, Marseille [Nestlé, factory in Saint-Menet, Marseille]
Publisher: Les Presses de Draeger Frères, Montrouge
Year of publication: 1959
Binding: paperback (folded cardboard with pattern in relief)
Size: 285 x 240 mm
Number of pages: 50
Number of illustrations: 22 black & white photographs; 27 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary, landscape and product photography
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Draeger; Nestlé Collection; Roger Viollet
Design: Ferry and Barbot
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

The Swiss nutrition multinational Nestlé published a promotional book on their chocolate and Nescafé factory in Saint-Menet, near Marseille. The publication introduces the picturesque town Saint-Menet, followed by a view on the industrial complexes and concludes with a report on the fabrication of chocolate and Nescafé. The illustrations are varied: black & white exterior and interior photographs, photographs of coffee roasters, machines for rotating and equalizing the chocolate paste, and large piles of Nescafé packages. Some of the photographs are coated with a single primary color. With one exception, all color photographs are manually pasted to the inside work. In addition to the photographs, the book contains two detailed illustrations of the cacao plant and the coffee plant: the natural resource of chocolate and Nescafé.

Renault Yvon and Volkswagenwerk Wolfsburg
Binding: folded cassette (with front window; photographs printed as postcards inside)
Size: 70 x 94 / 70 x 94 mm
Number of pages: 20 / 16
Number of illustrations: 20 / 16
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Type of reproduction: gelatin silver print on picture postcards
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Renault Yvon and Volkswagenwerk Wolfsburg are two of a kind: a pack of, respectively, twenty and sixteen small souvenir postcards that nowadays can be found in large amounts at antiquarian markets. Because these peculiar objects are not photobooks they are an exception to the rule in this exhibition. These miniatures come across as merchandise meant for the tourist branch. The photographic series on the two biggest European car companies are practically the same. The postcards give insight into the operational car industry processes from raw materials to end product: an aerial overview, the machines to paint and presses to weld the body parts, labour on the shop floor, the final product Renault CV4 and VW Bug. A descriptive caption on the backside of each card explains what is depicted on front.

Le Confort au Palais et dans les Appartemens [Comfort in Palais and Appartments]
Publisher: La Société Générale de Fonderie, Paris
Year of publication: 1931
Binding: paperback (hand silk paper; cover with engraved ornaments)
Size: 240 x 320 mm
Number of pages: 92
Number of illustrations: 52 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: photomontage; documentary photography
Printer: SOC, Paris
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Print run: 1000
Photography:[Germaine Krull]
Text: Gosselin Lenotre; Paul Reboux; Marcel Provost; e.g.
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Le Confort au Palais et dans les Appar temens is a luxurious, large-size publi cation by La Société Générale de Fonderie a company in household equipment like bold heating ovens. The first half of the book contains four fiction stories written by Gosselin Lenotre, Paul Reboux, Marcel Provost, and Pierre Mac Orlan. The first page of each short story is juxtaposed with a color drawing pasted on the left page. The stories are printed on hand silk paper. The second half of the book encloses a series of densely printed full bleed photographs with intersecting bracts in between some of the pages. The series of photographs consist of photomontages and close-ups; all photographs are shot in a dramatic modernist style. The photographs are generally ascribed to the German photographer Germaine Krull (1897-1985). Krull lived in Paris between 1926 and 1928, and is known for her seminal industrial photobook Métal (1928).

GEO
Publisher: Géo Foucault & Schweitzer, Paris
Year of publication: [1930s]
Binding: paperback (bound by a cord)
Size: 175 x 112 mm
Number of pages: 210
Number of illustrations: 42 black & white photographs; 62 color
Type of illustrations: product and architecture photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Type: promotional catalogue
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

GEO appears like a no-nonsense booklet about the different types of meat the factory produces. The book consists of two parts; clearly divided by different types of paper. The first part contains detached black & white interior and exterior photographs of the factory. The second part continues with product photography and includes cut-outs in vivid colors. The chunks of meat are displayed within an ornamental frame. Not only ham and sausages are presented, but also cans with paté and pots with pickles are displayed. The book is loosely bound with a cord and two perforations; only the right pages are printed. Either a one centimetre white bar or an ornamental frame consistently formats each of the photographs on these pages throughout the booklet.

Newsprint
Publisher: International Paper Sales Company Inc., Montreal, Canada
Year of publication: 1939
Binding: hardcover
Size: 345 x 268 mm
Number of pages: 74
Number of illustrations: 84 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography; photo collage
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Photography:Margaret Bourke-White; H.F. Kells; Edward J. Herbert; e.g.
Type: promotional book [40 year anniversary]
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Newsprint is a photo book pur sang, compiled of docu mentary photo graphy. This publi cation contains hardly any text. The subtitle explains precisely what the book is about: ‘A book of pictures illustrating the operations in the manufacture of paper on which to print the world’s news’. A series of photographs by famous American woman photographer Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) shows the reader the production process from lumbering to sawmill, from pulp to the final product: newsprint. Besides the production process Bourke-White also focuses on the employees of International Paper Sales Company. The book consists almost entirely of large-size printed photographs: some are full spread, others contain white bars on top or bottom and in some cases overlapping and bleeding images. Bourke-White used high contrast black & white photography and emphasized in her pictures both the force of the elements of nature with the force of man-made machines.

Les Nouvelles Messageries de la Presse Parisienne [The New Message from Presse Parisienne]
Publisher: N.M.P.P., Paris
Year of publication: 1960
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth)
Size: 320 x 245 mm
Number of pages: 62
Number of illustrations: 51 black & white photographs; 5 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Draeger Frères, Montrouge
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Édouard Boubat
Design: Pierre Faucheux
Text: Antoine Blondin
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

On first impression, the publication of Presse Parisienne looks, in terms of size, cover and layout, like a children’s book: colorful and set in a large typeface. However, this is illusionary. The main part of the book is about the daily distribution of a newspaper. With a daily press run of over three million copies, it needed a large distribution network. The visual narrative in Les Nouvelles Messageries de la Presse Parisienne is chronological and shows the production of Presse Parisienne as if it were a life cycle with time as its only enemy. The book design echoes the dynamic of a venturous company, resulting in a variety of image sizes, paper and little text. Sheets of mechanical wood paper emphasize the physical aspect of the production of a newspaper. In assigning the Paris based photographer Édouard Boubat (1923-1999), Presse Parisienne choose to depict the newspaper in a humanist manner. Boubat is fitting in the tradition of postwar humanist photography. Boubat’s photos show the daily newspaper as a communication tool and how Presse Parisienne is part of daily life.

So Entsteht ein Auto [The Making of a Car]
Publisher: Bücherei der Adlerwerke, Frankfurt
Year of publication: 1930
Binding: paperback (stitched; cover with relief)
Size: 355 x 265 mm
Number of pages: 109
Number of illustrations: 49 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: photomontage; product photography
Printer: Brönner’s Druckerei, Frankfurt
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Photography: Paul Wolff
Design: Hans Breidenstein
Text: Paul G. Ehrhardt
Type: commemoration book (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

On occasion of the 50th anniversary of automobile manufacturer Adlerwerke the company published So Entsteht ein Auto. This title is likely the first industrial company book made by photographer Paul Wolff's (1887-1951), who studied medicine and was a pioneer in 35 mm color photography and the use of the Leica camera. This paperback edition showcased Adlerwerke’s car production in a striking Art Deco design. Most of the illustrations are photomontages. The text is printed in brown on beige paper, which contrasts effectively with the cold deep black of the images. The book is divided in six chapters and depicts historical, contemporary and future production techniques.

My trip to “Caterpillar”
Publisher: Tractor Co. Peoria, Illinois
Year of publication: [1940s]
Binding: hardcover (bound by a cord and two perforations; faux leather cover)
Size: 240 x 330 mm
Number of pages: 18
Number of illustrations: 2 black & white photographs; 18 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; group portrait (gelatin siver print)
Type: commemoration book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

My trip to “Cater pillar” is a personal souvenir to B.F. Gephart whose name is in gold relief print on the cover. The cover is similar to the American high school yearbooks mentioned in The Photobook: A History volume two (2006) by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger. The book design appears as an old-fashioned family album: in size; full-padded whitewashed plastic cover with shiny yellow cord; glassine interleaving paper and text balloons accompanying each image. Groups who visited the world’s largest manufacturer of diesel engines, tractors and road machinery began their tour with a group portrait and each visitor was able to take this personal gift home at the end of the day. The final pages are left blank for personal notes, like in a diary.
The photographs are heavily retouched with bright colors and placed in pairs in a white frame on light blue paper.

L’uomo in fabbrica [Man in factory]
Publisher: Gruppo Fiat, Turin
Year of publication: 1971
Binding: hardcover (with paper dust jacket)
Size: 280 x 158 mm
Number of pages: 96
Number of illustrations: 92 black & white photographs; 12 color
Type of illustrations: documentary
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Aldo Moisio; Filiberto Rota; Enzo Isaia; e.g.
Text: Umberto Agnelli
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

In the publication L’uomo in fabbrica the automobile manufacturer Fiat expresses its affinity with its employees working on the shop floor, its focus on the importance of human workforce in factory work. A technical drawing of the Fiat 128 model is printed on the dust jacket. After a short introduction the book contains only photographs. A compilation of thumbnails, bleeding images and large images bordered with white bars show the reader a day at work in the factory. The variety in image size and the mixture of black & white and color photographs generate a dynamic flow in the visual narrative. The story begins with the employees going to work and it ends when they leave the Fiat complex; in addition, the storyline shows the fabrication of the Fiat 128. Captain of industry of the Fiat Group, Umberto Agnelli, is portrayed on the shop floor and wrote an introductory text.

Revolution im Unsichtbaren [Invisible Revolution]
Publisher: Econ-Verlag GMBH, Düsseldorf
Year of publication: 1963
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth with engraved title)
Size: 305 x 260 mm
Number of pages: 132
Number of illustrations: 26 black & white photographs; 54 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; abstract and documentary photography
Printer: H. Osterwald, Hannover
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Rudi Angenendt; Horst H. Baumann; Heinz Bitter; e.g.
Design: Wolf D. Zimmermann
Text: Friedrich Sieburg
Type: commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

The company Bayer AG was established in 1863 and originally manufactured dyestuffs, a substance for staining and coloring fabrics. In 1925 it evolved into the consolidation of Germany’s chemical industries known as IG Farben. Bayer AG first developed pharmaceuticals, dyes, acetates, fibres, insecticides, and other chemicals and, most of all, is it renowned for being the originator and first marketer of aspirin (1899). Revolution im Unsichtbaren was published on the occasion of Bayer AG’s 100th anniversary and contains full bleeding bright silver-coated images, somewhat psychedelic in nature, that display the chemical development of dyestuffs. With close-ups, little depth of field and motion blur, the visual narrative is abstract and dynamic.

“Night Trick” on the Norfolk and Western Railway
Publisher: Norfolk and Western Railway, Roanoke, Virginia
Year of publication: 1957
Binding: paperback
Size: 215 x 278 mm
Number of pages: 16
Number of illustrations: 16 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: landscape and documentary photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Ogle Winston Link
Text: Norfolk and Western Railway
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

‘This book, made for the Norfolk and Western Railway in Virginia, might not be large, but many of O. Winston Link’s (1914-2001) classic images are in there, and given fine reproduction. Link, who is formulating a vision of the United States as conservative and as precisely calculated as that of Norman Rockwell, generally creates a foreground tableau and has a train, steam blowing behind, rushing by in the background. [...] Link’s vision is, of course, a fabrication, a very persuasive one based on the idea of community. He shows the United States going about its business and leisure, keeping the commercial, social and cultural life of the country flowing as it should.’ From: Badger, Gerry & Martin Parr (ed.), The Photobook: A History volume 2, Phaidon Press, London: 2006, pp.188-189

IGNIS 25
Publisher: Rizzoli Editore, Milan
Year of publication: 1969
Binding: hardcover (paper dust jacket; logo engraved on cover)
Size: 290 x 210 mm
Number of pages: 172
Number of illustrations: 136 black & white photographs; 61 color
Type of illustrations: landscape, architectural, reportage and product photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Publifoto; Renato Padovan; Faoro and Tediosi archive
Design: Enzo Avesani
Text: Giuseppe Tanzi (ed.)
Type: commemoration book (25 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

The Italian company in household equip ment, Ignis, published a photo book on the occasion of its 25th anni versary. The book has a two-part division: the first part is a historical overview in text and graphs and the second part is a visual reportage on the company. The latter is again divided in three sections: photographs of the industry, of the commercial enterprise, and a section on social life. All the color images are full-bleed spreads. The photographs that are taken inside the factory are shot with flashlight. The effect is images appearing to be staged. Because all the employers wear blue overalls and work along the assembly line the repetitive mise-en-scene in the photographs has a theatrical quality.

Facom
Publisher: Draeger Frères, Montrouge
Year of publication: 1960
Binding: paperback (spiral binding; sections divided by numbered cardboard tabs)
Size: 268 x 235 mm
Number of pages: 150
Number of illustrations: numerous black & white photographs; 9 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; product and documentary photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Mazo, St-Martin; Photocrom, Buenos-Aires
Design: Service Artistique Draeger Frères, Montrouge
Text: Facom
Type: promotional catalogue
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Facom is a company in mechanical gear; the catalogue depicts many different types of wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, and other hand tools. Most of the product photography is printed on black & white coated with a red tone, some of the interior photography is in the same style. For example, the store is depicted in black & white with only a cupboard in red. Another notable aspect of the design is the images along the cardboard tabs are printed as spreads, in black & white on the left page and in color on the right page.

Im Kraftfeld von Rüsselsheim [In the Force Field of Rüsselsheim]
Publisher: Knorr und Hirth, München
Year of publication: 1940
Binding: hardcover (printed linen cloth and faux leather spine; with dust cover)
Size: 220 x 210 mm
Number of pages: 219
Number of illustrations: 80 color photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography
Printer: Hauserpresse Hans Schaefer, Frankfurt
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Paul Wolff
Design and Idea: Carl T. Wiskott
Text: Heinrich Hauser
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Im Kraftfeld von Rüssels heim was published during World War II. It took two years to finalize its produc tion, for which the publisher expressed pride on the jacket text. One of the reasons for this euphoria is that the text is written according to Nazi ideology. Another reason was the fact that Im Kraftfeld von Rüsselsheim is the first book with color reproductions of 35 mm negative film. Dr. Paul Wolff (1887-1951) used his preferred Leica camera in twelve different factories to record the industrialization of Rüsselsheim, among them: a rayon factory, a screw factory, and steel mills. Most of the factories manufactured products for the biggest car company of its time in Europe: Opel. The photo series depict mainly factory workers on the shop floor working with metal, from welding to polishing.

Omaggio Al Cappello [A Tribute to the Hat]
Publisher: Arti Grafiche Amilcare Pizzi, Milan
Year of publication: 1957
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth with embossed title; illustrated dust jacket)
Size: 292 x 255 mm
Number of pages: 150
Number of illustrations: 79 black & white photographs; 1 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; historical and portrait photography
Printer: Arti Grafische Amilcare Pizzi, Milan
Type of reproduction: offset
Text: Mario Carrieri; Giuseppe Trevisani; Massimo Vignelli (eds.)
Type: commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

The 100th year anniversary of the Borsalino company resulted in a bulky tribute to headdress. The publication is composed of pictures, photography and reproductions of paintings which makes it a versatile design. The dust jacket is printed on two sides: on the outside the assemblage of a hat is depicted, and hidden on the inside flaps is a photograph of the apartments of employees. The inside work is compiled of a series of reproductions of famous paintings that show people with hats. These reproductions are pasted on black pages. The second section in the book contains various humorous and fashion illustrations, with the hat as central topic. The third section displays full-page portraits of employers with a short but quite a personal history introducing each person. Omaggio Al Cappello conveys to the reader the company’s fascination for and affection with the (making of the) Italy’s famous headdress.

Die Maggi Werke [The Maggi Works]
Publisher: Maggi Gesellschaft MBH, Berlin
Year of publication: [1925]
Binding: paperback (folded binding with cord)
Size: 205 x 295 mm
Number of pages: 40
Number of illustrations: 41 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Design: H. Schirmer, Berlin
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Die Maggi Werke is a publi cation on Germany’s largest food industry business: Maggi. The straight forward Art Deco book design is similar to the design of Dutch artist magazine Wendingen [1918-1932] from the same style period. The page layout and typography in this oblong publication is more prominent than the greyish photographs about the people working in the factory and the agriculture. Depicted on the photographs are the men returning from harvest, long lines of women wearing aprons and headscarves preparing cauliflower and kettles with bouillon. Except for two pages, every page contains one medium size photograph that is always off-centre. With a large typeface and decorating strips in silver along the outer edge of the pages, black strips around the photographs and blue strips along the page seam create a firm and dated Art Deco layout.

Les Cathedrales du Vin [The Cathedrals of Wine]
Publisher: Sainrapt et Brice, Paris
Year of publication: 1937
Binding: paperback
Size: 310 x 237 mm
Number of pages: 20
Number of illustrations: 11 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography
Printer: Jacques Bazaine, Paris
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Print run: 3100 (numbered)
Photography: André Kertesz
Text: Pierre Hamp
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Les Cathedrales du Vin is a publication on the winery Sainrapt et Brice in Paris. The large format paperback contains eleven photographs made by the Hungarian master photographer André Kertesz (1894-1985). A semi-transparent glassine interleaving paper with explanatory captions covers each photograph. The black & white illustrations have a dense quality with high contrast due to the photogravure reproduction. Kertesz captured the winery with serenity as if it were a cathedral. The dimly lit chambers are empty with deep down anonymous individuals at work. From different points of view, some frontal and some from a high or low perspective, Kertesz emphasizes the height of the winery’s interior.

Práce Je Živá [Work is Living]
Publisher: Ceská Grafická, Prague
Year of publication: 1945
Binding: hardcover (half brown cloth; photographic dust jacket).
Size: 340 x 255 mm
Number of pages: 180
Number of illustrations: 173 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Photography: Vladimir Hipman
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Práce Je Živá is a tribute to the workforce of Czecho slovakia. This costly and volu minous
publi cation pays tribute to the industrial era and its heroic workers. The Czech photographer Vladimir Hipman was a prominent figure in the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement in Eastern Europe. In style and propagation of work ethos Práce Je Živá is comparable to Albert Renger-Patzsch’s Eisen und Stahl (1931) and Lewis W. Hine’s Men at work (1932). The rich photogravures display a dramatic view on industrial work published in this scarce post-war classic.


Forthcoming Spring 2015 The Chinese Photobook Curated by Martin Parr and WassinkLundgren Photography

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In the last decade there has been a major reappraisal of the role and status of the photobook within the history of photography. Revisionist histories have added enormously to our understanding of the medium’s culture, particularly in places that are often marginalized, such as Latin America and Africa. However, until now, only three Chinese photobooks have made it onto historians’ short lists.

Yet China has a fascinating history of photobook publishing, and Aperture’s exhibition The Chinese Photobook will reveal for the first time the richness and diversity of this heritage. Divided into six historical sections, it will delight and engage photobook enthusiasts with the excitement of discovery. Based on a collection compiled by Martin Parr and Beijing- and London-based Dutch photographer teamWassinkLundgrenThe Chinese Photobook embodies an unprecedented amount of research and scholarship, and includes accompanying texts and individual title descriptions by Raymond Lum, Stephanie Tung, and Gu Zheng.
The Chinese Photobook will also reveal much about China itself, and the country’s dramatic twists and turns during the last 150 years.
Martin Parr is a key figure in the world of photography, recognized as a brilliant satirist of contemporary life. Author of over thirty photography books, his photographs have been collected by museums worldwide, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Tate Modern, London. Parr is a member of Magnum Photos.
WassinkLundgren is a collaboration between Dutch artists Thijs groot Wassink and Ruben Lundgren. Their work together includes book projects, exhibitions, and photography commissions. They met while studying at the Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands and have worked together since 2005. They have received several awards, including the Dutch Doc Award and Foto Kees Scherer Prijs for best photobook, and have been nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award.
Contents:
Includes approximately fifty-five books (with an average of eight to ten books in each of the six sections) and eighty framed portfolio pages, as well as video slideshows that will allow the viewer to “flip” through the more delicate books that must be presented in vitrines. Less rare books will be available for handling on a viewing table. In addition, the exhibitor will receive high-res tear-sheet files, which will be produced by the venue as vinyl blowups.
Related Publication:
The Chinese Photobook
Edited by Martin Parr and WassinkLundgren
11 3⁄4 x 12 7⁄8 in. (29.8 x 32.7 cm)
456 pages, 600 four-color images
Hardcover with jacket
Spring 2015
See also 

Forthcoming Spring 2014 Book about Chinese Photobooks Martin Parr WassinkLundgren Photography




La Chine à terre et en ballon; reproduction de 272 photographies, exécutées par des officiers du génie du corps expéditionnaire et groupées sur 42 [i.e. 41] planches et phototypie avec légendes explicatives (1902)


1900年,八国联军中的法军,在北京和天津首次使用了热气球进行侦查,并留下一批航拍的照片。法国军队回国后,为了纪念他们的这次远征,从这些航拍照片中挑选了一部分,结合一部分在陆地拍摄的照片,1902年小范围的出版了一本《LA CHINE A TERRE ET EN BALLON》,这本书有个包袱皮式的封套,打开后是目录和说明文字,最后是散页形式的内页,共41页。这本书的内容和视角很少见,因此很珍贵,我曾经有四篇从这本书延伸出来的博文:


这本书即使在欧美也不好找,我目前已知香港有位研究中国早期铁路史的藏家有一本,香港某书店有一本重新装钉的,国内某拍卖公司卖过一本缺两页的,和另外三套完整的。此书售价都很贵,在1.6-2.5万元之间。

全书26*34.5cm。










China As She Is:
A Comprehensive Album 
This auction features China As She Is: A Comprehensive Album , published in 1934 in Shanghai, China. The book provides an extensive look at prewar China. There are sections on 28 provinces of China (some provinces are grouped together; there are 23 separate chapters for the 28 provinces). Each chapter begins with one page of text giving general information about the province and its major cities followed by black & white photos of industry, agriculture, buildings, historic and religious landmarks, lakes and other natural features. The text is in English and Chinese.


The book begins with a two-page map of china followed by 20 full page color photos (protected by tissue guards). There are 474 pages plus ten foldout statistical charts (1 is creased at the edge, the others are flat). Title page for each chapter has a pasted down color photo on it (see photo). There are photographic endpapers (b&w photo of dragons carved on a wall).

China As She Is was published by Liang You Printing & Publishing Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China, in 1934 and is a second impression. L.T. Wu was the editor-in-chief and the book was photographed by T. S. Leung, Y.H. Chang, P. Auyoung, W. Szeto








Pictorial Review of the Sino-Japanese Conflict 1932


The Shanghai Trouble = 上海事變寫眞帖 (Shanghai Incident Photo Album) Paperback – January 1, 1932


"Chairman Mao is the red sun of our hearts" - scarce illustrated album from the early period of Cultural Revolution published in July 1967 by The "People's Fine Arts Publishing House" for The "Chinese Revolution Photographic Society". The album contains 68 plates with black & white historical pictures & many affixed color photographs signed by Zhong Guo, Ge Ming, She Ying, Xie Hui, Bian Ji.















China.

Beijing: China Album Editing Commit tee, 1959. First Edition. Large folio. One of the greatest propaganda books ever published, with over 500 illustrations, many photographic and printed in rich gravure, with color images, and non-photographic art plates, either tipped or mounted in. Published to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. No edition size is indicated. A beautiful copy in satin boards with inset red Chinese characters, original acetate overlay, publisher's box.




“Night Trick” on the Norfolk and Western Railway For CEO’s Only Foto Industria Bologna 2013 Ogle Winston Link Company Photography

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“Night Trick” on the Norfolk and Western Railway
Publisher: Norfolk and Western Railway, Roanoke, Virginia
Year of publication: 1957
Binding: paperback
Size: 215 x 278 mm
Number of pages: 16
Number of illustrations: 16 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: landscape and documentary photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Ogle Winston Link
Text: Norfolk and Western Railway
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

‘This book, made for the Norfolk and Western Railway in Virginia, might not be large, but many of O. Winston Link’s (1914-2001) classic images are in there, and given fine reproduction. Link, who is formulating a vision of the United States as conservative and as precisely calculated as that of Norman Rockwell, generally creates a foreground tableau and has a train, steam blowing behind, rushing by in the background. [...] Link’s vision is, of course, a fabrication, a very persuasive one based on the idea of community. He shows the United States going about its business and leisure, keeping the commercial, social and cultural life of the country flowing as it should.’ From: Badger, Gerry & Martin Parr (ed.), The Photobook: A History volume 2, Phaidon Press, London: 2006, pp.188-189


For CEO’s Only is a selection of international company photobooks from the private collection of professional photographer Bart Sorgedrager, based in Amsterdam. Research assistant Clara Jankowski (MA Master Photographic Studies, Leiden University) has compiled a bibliography and captions for this particular selection of company photobooks and is presented in the exhibition as FOR CEO’S ONLY (alluding to the title of a company photobook by Richard Avedon for M&A Group in New York).

Birmingham Special at Rural Retreat, Virginia, 1957 (Printed in 2000)
O. Winston Link is the commonly known name for the American artist Ogle Winston Link. O. Winston Link was born on December 16, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York and spent his childhood there with his mother, father and two siblings. While growing up the father of O. Winston Link, Albert Link, was a woodworking teacher in the public school system in Brooklyn, and encouraged his children to explore an interest in craftsmanship and the arts. Under his father’s guidance O. Winston Link developed a love for tools, photography, and the beauty of the industrial sights in New York.

O. Winston Link explored his passion for photography in his teens by studying the photographic craft while working at a local photo store, and developing his own enlarger during high school. After graduating high school O. Winston Link attended The Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, where his love for industrial technology caused him to pursue a major in civil engineering. O. Winston Link continued practicing photography through the institute’s newspaper by becoming the photo editor. O. Winston Link never got the opportunity to become a civil engineer because upon graduation Carl Byoiroffered O. Winston Link a job as a photographer with his public relations firm.

Until 1942, O. Winston Link worked with Carl Byoir Associates and developed himself as a photographic artist. O. Winston Link utilized photography as a way to communicate with others through the authentic style of his photographs, which was a skill that would help to build his career as an artist. After five years at Carl Byoir Associates, O. Winston Link left his job there due to the onset of World War II. O. Winston Link began to work with the Columbia Institute Laboratory in Mineola, Long Island as a project engineer and photographer, working specifically with photographing the construction of low-flying planes designed to search for enemy submarines. While working in Long Island O. Winston Link spent his free time photographing the Long Island Railroad near the lab, which revived his fascination with the beauty of steam locomotives. When the war ended in 1945 Carl Byoir’s firm invited O. Winston Link to return, but he turned them down and decided to pursue a career as an independent, professional photographer.

O. Winston Link soon developed himself as a photographer of industrial and factory spaces. During an industrial photography trip to Staunton, Virginia in 1955 the Norfolk and Western Railway inspired O. Winston Link. The N&W Railway was the last line in the United States to convert from steam to diesel motive power. As O. Winston Link began to photograph the railway the N&W made the first steps to convert to diesel motive power, turning O. Winston’s photographs into the visual records of the final era of a once revolutionary transportation method. Although O. Winston Link had not planned on beginning such a project, he was so motivated by the idea that he decided to use his own time and funds to pursue it. O. Winston Link was given permission to pursue this project and have full access to the tracks by the president of the N&W, R. H. Williams. The officials, employees, and passengers of the N&W soon began to recognize O. Winston Link as an artist documenting a piece of American history as he began to record this specific part of American life.

Over the next five years O. Winston Link would take 2,400 photographs, mostly produced on 4x5 film with a Graphic View Camera. Traveling to towns in Virgina, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland, O. Winston Link dedicated himself to documenting not only the railway, but the life and communities that had grown up around the Norfolk and Western Railway. Although O. Winston Link photographed all aspects of the N&W, he is well known for the photographs he made through the method of photographing the railway at night in black and white film. To do so O. Winston Link created his own form of flash photography in order to capture as much detail as possible of the large locomotives and railway scenes. Preparing these photographic scenes was a huge endeavor that required O. Winston Link to often have many assistants, large-scale photographic equipment, and impeccable timing in order to get the right photograph. The process was extensive, but it allowed O. Winston Link to capture the awe-inspiring black and white night photographs that are today seen as a beautifully captured record of American industrial history. The dramatic contrast between the illuminated areas and the cast shadows in his photographs, as well as the candid quality of life along the railway makes the work of O. Winston Link stand out from other industrial photographers of his era. During this project O. Winston Link also experimented with color photographs shot during the day, as well as sound recordings of the steam engines.

In 1960, O. Winston Link finished his project photographing the Norfolk and Western Railway, and returned to his work as an independent artist, often being employed to take photographs of construction projects or advertisement endeavors. As the country’s mentality was moving toward newer forms of technology and ignoring the past the N&W project did not cause O. Winston Link immediate fame when it was completed. Railway fans initially supported the work of O. Winston Link as his sound recordings and photos were published in the 1950s. It was not until 1983 that O. Winston Link developed greater fame when the public was given access to his photographs through a traveling exhibition. In the same year O. Winston Link retired as a photographer and moved to South Salem, New York. O. Winston Link continued to gain fame when a book collection of his railroad work Steam, Steel, and Stars was published in 1987, followed by another book collection The Last Steam Railroad, published in 1995.

In 2000, O. Winston Link granted his permission for a museum dedicated to him and his work to be built in Roanoke, Virginia. O. Winston Link assisted in the planning and organization of the museum until the opening in 2006. The O. Winston Link Museum celebrates his work as not only that of an artist, but as the work of an historian who beautifully captured a chapter of American history. Combining photography, sound recordings, and film taken during the artistic endeavors of O. Winston Link, the museum gives the viewers a first hand glimpse into how the steam engines and industrial scenes in America inspired O. Winston Link.

O. Winston Link died on January 30, 2001 close to his home in South Salem, New York.


Sources include:
O. Winston Link: Photography Book, Phaidon Press Limited, London, England, 1997
Camera at Work: O. Winston Link, Kenneth Miller, Life, New York, NY, December 1996, p. 96-100
The Last Steam Railroad in America: Photographs by O. Winston Link, Thomas H. Garver, Harry N. Abrams Publishing,
New York, NY, 1995
The Night tricks of O. Winston Link, American Photo, vol. 5, no. 4, July/August 1994
O. Winston Link, Steam, Steel, and Stars: America’s Last Steam Railroad, Tim Hensley, Harry N. Abrams Publishing,
New York, NY, 1987
O. Winston Link, Bryan Hatchett, USA Today, McLean, VA, October 29, 1987
O. Winston Link: Ghost Trains, Railroad Photographs of the 1950s, Chrysler Museum Library, New York, NY, 1983
Night Trick by O. Winston Link: Photographs of The Norfolk & Western Railway, 1955-60, Rupert Martin, The Photographers Gallery, London, England, June 17 - August 27, 1983 (catalogue)
O. Winston Link: Mr. Link hails the train, Kathy Field Stephen, The Christian Science Monitor, Boston MA, September 19, 1983
O. Winston Link: International Center of Photography, Charles Hagen, Artforum, New York, NY, November 1983
The Mixed Train: Photography by O. Winston Link, David Morgan, Trains: The Magazine of Railroading, July 1957


















The Icons of Dutch industrial photography books 1945 1965

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The heyday of Dutch industrial photography books, 1945 - 1965

Photographer Paul Huf Paul Huff: Highlights (English and Dutch Edition) once commented succinctly on his work as follows: 'They get what they ask for, but I deliver damn good work' - the very thing that makes industrial photography books so attractive. The books show work from a period during which photographers could not make a living as artists/photographers and depended on such prestigious commissions. With this highly professional approach, photographers like Violette Cornelius Violette Cornelius and Ata Kando: Hungarian Refugees 1956, Cas Oorthuys 75 Jaar Bouwen, Van ambacht tot industrie 1889-1964, Ed van der Elsken , Ad Windig Het water - Schoonheid van ons land and Paul Huf established their reputations and influenced our present-day impression of workers and entrepreneurs in the postwar Netherlands. Experimental poets and well-known writers also contributed to these books, fifty of which are on show. 'Het bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965. Professionalisering van fotografen in het moderne Nederland' Het Bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965 . 

So you'd like to... 

start a photographic library of Company Photobooks



Een eeuw Hoenderloo
Publisher: Stichting Hoenderloo, Hoenderloo
Year of publication: 1951
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 220 x 250 mm
Number of pages: 168
Number of illustrations: 52 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary and staged photography
Printer: N.V. Meijer, Wormerveer (offset); Drukkerij Hoenderloo, Hoenderloo (letter press)
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Paul Huf
Design: Charles Jongejans
Text: M.B. van de Werk (introduction); O.G. Heldring (history)
Type: commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Een eeuw Honderloo [A century Hoenderloo] shows a highly optimistic picture of post-war youth enjoying technical training. Daily life in the educational institute is recorded. Text sections are set in the Bodoni cursive and printed on different types of paper; photo sections are separated from text. Documentary and staged photography show aspects of education and leisure in typical Paul Huf (1924-2002) mise-en-scene, looking like small theatre plays.

NV COQ 1956: fabriek voor Hoogspannings schakelmateriaal
Publisher: N.V. COQ Fabriek voor Hoogspannings schakelmateriaal, Utrecht
Year of publication: 1956
Binding: spiral binding
Size: 240 x 260 mm
Number of pages: 60
Number of illustrations: 55 black & white photographs; 2 color
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile
Printer: Drukkerij van Rossum, Utrecht
Type of reproduction: letter press
Photography: Nico Jesse
Design: Nico Jesse
Type: instruction book
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

The visual narrative in NV COQ 1956 is set up as a tour of the company manufacturing high-voltage cables. The spiral binding is similar to that of Oranje Nassau Mijnen (1953). The edition is trilingual: Dutch, French and English.

1909 PLEM 1959
Publisher: NV Provinciale Limburgsche Electriciteits-Maatschappij PLEM, Maastricht
Year of publication: 1959
Binding: hardcover, with dust jacket
Size: 260x240mm
Number of pages: 154
Number of illustrations: 136 black & white photographs, 7 color
Type of illustrations: photo-reportage; product photography; landscape photography
Printer: Firma Boosten & Stols, Maastricht
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: Dick Elffers and Ben Duijvelshoff
Text: L. Harpman, en P.A. Becx (editing); B. Aafjes and R. Franquinet (literary essay)
Type: commemoration book (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Dick Elffers (1910-1990) was par excellence a designer who built on the functional typography developed by Piet Zwart and Paul Schuitema, also in the design of company photobooks. Both in De beurt is aan 1888-1955 (1955) as 1909 PLEM 1959 he applied the achievements of the New Photography in an unconventional way. Elffers considers the photographic picture as an equivalent element of a total design. In addition to the usual portraits of directors from the company archive, Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975) made documentary records and photographs of household equipment, and switchgear, as well as landscapes and cityscapes. The power plant is metaphorically represented as a fairy-tale palace from One Thousand and One Nights. Graphs are in separate sections printed on a different type of paper. The text is put into the Grotesk, Gill and Goudy. On the antiquarian market, 1909 PLEM 1959 is one of the most expensive photo books within the genre.

Plem 1909-1959 by : Martin Parr & Gerry Badger in The Photobook : A History volume II
It is a characteristic of the Dutch photobook, as it is of the Japanese photobook, that design is an important element of the total package. One of the best designed examples of the period was produced for the utility company PLEM ( Provinciale Limburgsche Electriciteits maatschappij), the electricity-generating company in the south of Holland, and it is the book's lead designer Dick Elffers, who is the driving force behind the look of the volume, even tough the photographic roster includes such distinguished names in Dutch photography as Cas Oorthuys (Oorthuys) and Koen Lenarts.

With its plethora of design 'references', the book might even be considered a prototype of the postmodern photobook, although graphic design, like fashion, was always a matter of visual appropriation. The borrowing begins with the cover, where the letters 'PLEM' are arranged in exactly the same way as the letters 'CPDE' on the cover of Man Ray's Électricite' (1931; see pages 182-83).

Another important design feature is a grid pattern that relates to the De Stijl movement of the 1930's, which numbered amongst its exponents Piet Mondriaan and Gerrit Rietveld. De Stijl was noted for its rigorous geometry and use of primary colours, and this is echoed throughout PLEM. Most notably, its piece de resistance is a two-page panorama of a power station at night, in which the space is fractured and expanded by means of red and yellow overlaid shapes.

50 jaar Bruynzeel 1897–1947
Publisher: C. Bruynzeel & Zonen, Zaandam
Year of publi cation: 1947
Binding: hardcover
Size: 330 x 260 mm
Number of pages: 130
Number of illustrations: 154 black & white photographs; 20 color (schematic drawings, pen drawings)
Type of illustrations: photo-reportage; humanist photography; company profile
Printer: Firma L. van Leer en Co, Amsterdam
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Carel Blazer; Eva Besnyö
Design: Jan Bons, Jaap Penraat
Text: M. Redeke [Maurits Dekker] (company history)
Type: commemoration book (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

50 jaar Bruynzeel 1897-1947 [50 year of Bruynzeel], this handsome commemoration publication is arranged according to the type of product involved – doors, kitchens and floors. The factory is presented as a living organism. Jan Bons (1918-2012) emphasized the organic structure and function of an ‘extractor system’ in the Bruynzeel factory by creating a photomontage with rough edges and colored strips of paper, a device alluding to 1920s typography. The innovative feature of 50 jaar Bruynzeel is that Carel Blazer (1911-1980) and Eva Besnyö (1910-2002) took pictures of the production process, of the relation between humans and machines, the human relations on the shop floor and even of staff relaxing after work. The style features of the New Photography seem to lend themselves to this approach. This concept of socially balanced humanism is indebted to Russian propaganda art and film. Furthermore, this jubilee book is an early example of teamwork between photographers and designers.


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).

Oranje Nassau Mijnen
Publisher: NV Maat schappij tot Exploi tatie van Limburg sche Steen kolen mijnen, Heerlen
Year of publi cation: 1953
Binding: hardcover (spiral, in slipcase)
Size: 260 x 280 mm
Number of pages: 146
Number of illustrations: 163 black & white photographs; 2 color
Type of illustrations: photo-reportage; company profile; humanist photography
Printer: Th. van Rossum, Utrecht
Type of reproduction: letter press
Print run: 3535
Photography: Nico Jesse
Design: Nico Jesse
Type: commemoration book (60 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

NV Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Limburgsche Steenkolenmijnen, Oranje Nassau Mijnen [O.N. Mines] for short, released this commemoration publication on the occasion of its 60th anniversary. In a visual narrative, to be characterized as pious, the sense of community among the miners is central. The print run was 3535 copies and the book was released in several foreign editions. ‘Oranje Nassau Mines’ is one of the first post-war company photobooks in which the ins and outs of a company are shown on the basis of an on-going photographic picture story. Both the photography and the layout of Oranje Nassau Mijnen are provided by medical doctor/photographer Nico Jesse (1911-1976). It is one of the few post-war company photobooks with a spiral binding; the half linen hardcover is firmly encased in a sleeve. Jesse cautiously introduced in this book the theme ‘a-day-in-the-life’ of a miner.

60 jaar ons huis: 60 jaar volksontwikkeling
Publisher: Ons Huis, Amsterdam / NV Van Munster’s Uitgeversmaatschappij
Year of publication: 1952
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 250x170mm
Number of pages: 94
Number of illustrations: 74 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: reportage; documentary photography
Printer: Senefelder NV, Amsterdam
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Violette Cornelius
Design: Han de Vries
Text: D. Kouwenaar (introduction); G. Kouwenaar (literary essay); H.J. Barentz (company history)
Type: commemoration book (60 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

‘Our House’ was founded in 1892 and aimed at the improvement of the working class. Focus was on people's education and culture dissemination. The community center that stood in the middle of the Jordaan city neighborhood had a reading room; there were gymnastics, cooking and fencing classes, and academic lectures held in the center. The paperback 60 jaar ons huis; 60 jaar volksontwikkeling [60 years Our House: 60 Years People's Development] (1952) contains documentary photography by Violette Cornelius (1919-2000) on everyday life in Our House. The importance of group formation and community is central to the reportage. A realistic picture of everyday life is unusual for the early 1950s. The booklet is interleaved with red pages in a tripartite division: a retrospective, a portrait by an experimental poet and a promotional text by the center’s director.

In 1952 werd het zestig-jarig bestaan van vereniging Ons Huis gevierd. Een fraai herdenkingsboek, waaraan onder andere door Gerrit Kouwenaar werd meegewerkt, rolde van de persen. Zoals eertijds in 1893 de dame uit de aanzienlijke stand en de arbeider door Tours werden rondgeleid door het gebouw aan de Rozenstraat, zo werd ook de dichter Gerrit Kouwenaar in de gelegenheid gesteld door het gebouw in de Rozenstraat te wandelen om nader kennis te maken met het werk van de vereniging.,,Het werk van Ons Huis'', zo schreef Kouwenaar,,,is niet langer volksontwikkeling in de geijkte (en beperkte) zin, maar is pioniersarbeid, welke in het gegeven kader van 'Ons Huis' de mens in welke groep of klasse hij ook behoort. Ik dwaalde rond door het uitgestrekte gebouw. Het was een mooie voorjaarsavond. Ik keek neer op de door verlichte vensters omspannen binnenplaats, waar een groep opgeschoten jongens en meisjes volleybal speelde. Ergens achter een deur klonk een stem, die nadrukkelijk een Franse zin uitsprak, welke daarna door een jonge meisjesstem werd herhaald. Uit een ondefinieerbare richting drong een wals van Chopin tot mij door. De volleybal kletste tegen de stenen. In de huiskamer zat een groepje vrouwen rustig babbelend onder een schemerlamp. En ik dacht er aan, dat er in dit gebouw een 300 mensen bezig waren met andere, vollediger mensen te zijn, dan zij in hun gemechaniseerd nummerbestaan in fabriek of kantoor konden wezen.''(17)

Mensen van Menko: 1800 mensen fabriceren stoffen
Publisher: N.J. Menko NV, Enschedé
Year of publi cation: 1956
Binding: hardcover
Size: 290 x 210 mm
Number of pages: 87
Number of illustrations: 144 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: photo-reportage; company profile; staged photography
Printer: Bosch, Utrecht; Nederlandsche Rotogravure Mij, Leiden
Type of reproduction: letter press / copper plate printing
Photography: Nico Jesse
Design: Nico Jesse
Text: M. Verdenius (literary essay)
Type: commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Medical doctor-photographer Nico Jesse (1911-1976) made the reportage and carried out the staged photography as well as the design of this commemoration book Mensen van Menko [People from Menko. 1800 people manufacture textile materials] on the occasion of the centenary of textile manufacturer N.J. Menko NV in 1956. The production process runs parallel to a narrative ‘from the cradle to the grave’ and pictures of vaudeville. The layout of this picture story is similar to that in VTF 25 (1957) and Oranje Nassau Mijnen (1953). Work ethics, adaptability and concentration are central to this trilingual edition (Dutch, French, English). Staged photographs of problem situations on the shop-floor are accompanied by fictitious dialogues.

De draad van het verhaal
Publisher: Koninklijke Textielfabrieken Nijverdal-Ten Cate NV
Year of publication: 1960
Binding: hardcover (with acetate dust jacket)
Size: 310 x 250 mm
Number of pages: 76
Number of illustrations: 92 black & white photographs; 2 color
Type of illustrations: photo-reportage; humanist photography; company profile
Printer: Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: Jurriaan Schrofer
Text: Bert Schierbeek (literary contribution)
Type: commemoration book (200 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

De draad van het verhaal (1960) [Thereby hangs a tale] is typically the kind of company photobook in which parallel to the company profile a visual narrative appears along the theme ‘from the cradle to the grave’. Concepts are intertwined: the industrial reportage running parallel to a broader theme that has a Family of Man-like character is a formula that was used frequently by graphic designer Jurriaan Schrofer (1926-1990) in company photobooks. Another remarkable phenomenon is the ‘staccato-style’ in the captions with the photographs, in which aspects of modern life are cited. The poet Bert Schierbeek (1918-1996) wrote in white bars below the photographs by Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975): 'The spinners are humming, the white cords gathered, divided and pulled, the fibres stretched ...Oh roll thatcotton ball; a white transparent skin out of a wrapping of clouds.’ The text is set in the Baskerville italic.

100 jaar Grasso
Publisher: Grasso’s Machinefabrieken NV, ‘s-Hertogenbosch
Year of publication: 1958
Binding: hardcover
Size: 280 x 240 mm
Number of pages: 74
Number of illustrations: 100 black & white photographs; 1 color
Type of illustrations: documentary; product photography (machines, compressed air installations)
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing, offset
Photography: Violette Cornelius; Carel Blazer
Design: Benno Wissing
Text: E. Eberle (company history)
Type: commemoration book (60 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

100 jaar Grasso [A Century of Grasso Engineering works] is a trilingual commemoration book commissioned by Grasso’s Machinefabrieken NV in Den Bosch. The idea and concept for this book are by graphic designer Benno Wissing (1923-2008). The book consists of two parts, with the first discussing the history and application of cooling technologies and the second a history of compressed air. The people on the shop floor of this family firm hardly appear in this company book. Eugène Eberle, violinmaker and reviewer of the left-wing daily Het Vrije Volk described the history of the firm and the production process. The distinguishing feature of 100 jaar Grasso is the varying page layoutswith sometimes a number of smaller photographs and a fair amount of white space, in some cases the photographs are set opposite a large bleed – small and informative versus large and evocative.The text is set in the Baskerville. An edition prepared for the personnel is published as a paperback.

Vuur aan zee
Publisher: De Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken NV, IJmuiden
Year of publication: 1958
Binding: hardcover cloth bound / paperback with plain celluloid dust jacket (publication for staff)
Size: 310 x 250 mm
Number of pages: 80
Number of illustrations: 46 black & white photographs; 8 color
Type of illustrations: reportage; documentary photography
Printer: Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Print run: 3000 (Dutch edition 1958); 500 (English edition 1961); reprint 1962
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Cas Oorthuys; Violette Cornelius; Ed van der Elsken; Paul Huf; Ata Kandó
Design: Jurriaan Schrofer
Text: Paul Rodenko (literary contribution); G.S.K. Blaauw (company history); J.F. ten Doesschate a.o.
Type: commemoration book (farewell gift director)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

In 1958 Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens and Staalfabrieken NV in IJmuiden published the photobook vuur aan zee [Fire beside the sea, was released in1961] on the occasion of the retirement of the chairman of the board, Arnold Hugo Ingen Housz. This photobook is widely regarded as a pioneering book and as exceptional in the genre in part because five, now renowned, photographers contributed with portraits of the workers and reportages of the company: Violette Cornelius, Ed van der Elsken, Paul Huf, Ata Kandó and Cas Oorthuys. A sequence of photographs, cinematic in style, and usually based on a written scenario is prominent in the photobooks designed by Jurriaan Schrofer. In vuur aan zee the designer did not aim for a linear first-person narrative, as in the photonovel Love on the Left Bank (1956). Instead, he employed a method based on a combination of pacing, rhythm, dynamics and movement. He succeeds in explaining the production process throughout the book layout. Schrofer designs highlight aspects of Hoogoven’s main production process and of the by-products, with respectively white or black bars alongside or beneath the photographs. These bars have become a trademark of designer Schrofer.

Willem Ruys. To see the world
Publisher: Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd NV, Rotterdam
Year of publication: [1961]
Binding: hardcover (cortina folded)
Size: 190x150mm (folded open 375cm)
Number of pages: 60 (with endpapers)
Number of illustrations: 23 black & white photographs, 18 color
Type of illustrations: travel reportage; documentary photography
Printer: Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Carel Blazer
Design: Jurriaan Schrofer
Text: Max Dendermonde (literary contribution)
Type: promotional book (putting into service)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Willem Ruys. To see the world is a report of a trip around the world in photographs and so far the only known post-war company photobook executed in the form of an accordion fold, the perfect shape for an ongoing visual narrative and a cinematic mode of storytelling. Vertical white bars bound the zigzag folded pages. Jurriaan Schrofer regarded the 'zig-zag-idea' as his invention. In the colophon of the publication, however, Schrofer (1926-1990) declared never to have obtained credit for this contribution. The title is printed on the cover in red or blue; in short, there are two cover versions. Also an English-language edition was published. More or less simultaneously with this booklet appears Uit en toch thuis [On the road and yet at home]: a photo pocket following the putting into service of the Willem Ruys as a cruise ship. Commissioner is the Royal Rotterdamsche Lloyd NV. Carel Blazer photographed service and recreational activities on board of the Willem Ruys, landscape and citylife between Rotterdam and Melbourne. Novelist Max Dendermonde (1919-2004) was also on board. The booklet includes two maps of the Panama- and the Suez Canal.

4 gaten in de grond
Publisher: Maatschappij tot Exploitatie der Steenkoolmijnen Laura & Vereeniging, Eygelshoven
Year of publication: 1961
Binding: sewed
Size: 250x210mm
Number of pages: 44
Number of illustrations: 40 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile; graphics (map, technical drawings, statistics, circles)
Printer: Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Photography: Carel Blazer
Design: Benno Wissing
Text: Eugene Eberle (company history)
Type: promotional book
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

With regard to camera angle, print technique and size 4 gaten in de grond [4 holes in the ground] (1961) contains full bleeding images contrasting photo mosaics on adjacent pages. Graphic designer Benno Wissing (1923-2008) managed with predominantly static motives (stone and coal transport, processing to fine coal) to animate the layout. This aspect of his working method has been identified earlier in 100 jaar Grasso (1958). As 'architect' of the booklet Wissing invited a best friend, the violinmaker Eugene Eberle, whose style, similar to spoken language, seemed applicable for a promotional book. Both had, in collaboration with photographer Violette Cornelius (1919-2000), realized100 years Grasso three years earlier. After a successful collaboration on a company photobook, in a subsequent assignment the same team was formed 4 gaten in de grond is proof of that. The director of the private mining company commissioned this small booklet. The book theme focuses on people.

Tomado: wie glimlacht niet die zichzelf beziet?
Publisher: Tomado-huis, Dordrecht; Commissaris of the Queen, province Zuid-Holland
Year of publication: 1962
Binding: spiral
Size: 210 x 160 mm
Number of pages: 20
Number of illustrations: 10 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: interior; urban landscapes; in- and exterior
Printer: Vlasveld & Co, Rotterdam
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Jan Versnel
Design: C.L.W. Wirtz; B. van den Born (illustrations)
Text: A. Buffinga, T. Schaap
Type: promotional book (putting into service)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Tomado: wie glimlacht niet die zichzelf beziet? [who does not smile that looks at himself] is a rare example of a company photobook containing commissioned photography by Jan Versnel (1924-2007). Architecture photography is presented in this booklet with spiral band and the publication is interspersed with urban landscapes. As often in Versnel’s work, people are not central. B. van den Born made 11 comical cartoons on corporate culture.

De verbinding/The connection
Publisher: Staatsbedrijf der PTT, The Hague
Year of publication: [1962]
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 240x200mm
Number of pages: 76
Number of illustrations: 39 black & white photographs, 10 color
Type of illustrations: documentary, staged and product photography
Printer: Steendrukkerij de Jong & Co, Hilversum
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: V. Cornelius; E. Posthuma de Boer; P. Huf; H. de Bouter
Design: Jurriaan Schrofer; Jan Bons (doodles, cartoons, atomic bomb jokes)
Text: Jan Elburg (literary contribution)
Type: promotional book (putting into service)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Both de jong & van dam (1962) and De verbinding [ The connenction] (1962) display colloquial text and imagery. Both are printed in point-to-point varnish. The so-called quadrat prints, goodwills by Drukkerij De Jong & Co based in Hilversum, acted as stepping stones to this one-off publication launched on the occasion of the automation of the telephone network in the Netherlands. Jurriaan Schrofer (1926-1990) wrote the scenario, performed as the director and compiled a large and multidisciplinary team. The photographers Eddy Posthuma de Boer (1931) and Violette Cornelius selected pictures from their archive. Paul Huf was commissioned to making a series of staged color photographs showing phone calls between model Corinne Rottschäfer and author Herman van Eelen. Jan Bons (1918- 2012) scribbled doodels on the back cover and made illustrations of atomic bomb jokes in the inner work. Writer-poet Jan Elburg (1919-1992) wrote the connecting texts. Small portraits of the compilers are squeezed into a rotary dial on the front cover. An English-language edition was published in the same year. The booklet contains 10 folding pages; the font is Courier.

Nieuwe Matex Amatex
Publisher: Matex / Van Ommeren concern, Rotterdam
Year of publication: [1965]
Binding: paperback (square), glewed
Size: 240x240mm
Number of pages: 38
Number of illustrations: 35 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile
Printer: Joh. Enschedé en Zonen, Haarlem
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Photography: Carel Blazer; Frits Rotgans a.o.
Design: Jan Bons
Text: Anonymous (informative)
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

On the basis of formal aesthetics this company booklet is of the type cinematic scenario. The layout of the English-, German- and Dutch-language publication is similar to that of de jong & van dam (1962). This state-of-the-art publication designed by Jan Bons (1918- 2012) contains panoramic photographs by Frits Rotgans (1912-1978) of Rotterdam Botlek, storage and transport, as well as pipelines. Further it contains a printed transparent page and maps on waterways.

de jong & van dam
Publisher: De Jong & Van Dam NV, Hilversum
Year of publication: 1962
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 350x260mm
Number of pages: 28
Number of illustrations: 31 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; staged, fashion and product photography
Printer: Steendrukkerij de Jong & Co, Hilversum
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Ed van der Elsken
Design: Jan Bons
Text: Jan Bons (company history, handwritten)
Type: commemoration publication (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

The company photobook de jong & van dam (1962) appeared in the same year as De verbinding [The connection], likewise at Steendrukkerij De Jong & Co in Hilversum in offset print and is compiled by Jan Bons (1918-2012) and Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990). Van der Elsken made some colloquial fashion photographs and a reportage incorporating the company profile. Jan Bons joined the full-page bleeding photos seamlessly. In 1960, Jan Bons and Ed van der Elsken were co-founders of the magazine Twen. Partly for this reason matches are visible between both publications: both the folio size as the font has de jong & van dam in common with this non-conformist magazine for young people. The text is set in Clarendon. Manufacturer of machine-made seamless stockings, De Jong &Van Dam in Hilversum commissioned this seminal company photobook.

Dag nieuwe dag
Publisher: Ubica Matrassenfabrieken NV, Utrecht
Year of publication: 1960
Binding: hardcover (with dust jacket)
Size: 300x230mm
Number of pages: 130
Number of illustrations: 127 black & white photographs; 63 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Bakker, Zaandijk
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Photography: Cor van Weele; J.H. Hasewinkel
Design: Piet Marée(illustrations: beds, floor plans and drawings of sleeping room design)
Text: Martie Verdenius (literary contribution)
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Dag nieuwe dag [Hello New Day] (1960), commissioned by Ubica Matrassenfabrieken NV in Utrecht and with photographs by Cor van Weele (1918-1989), has the characteristic of a product catalog. A tripartite division characterizes the photo book: first there is a visual narrative on one-day-in-the-lifeof the Dutch workforce anno1960. A second part treats the cultural historical context of the act of sleeping through the ages. Then, in a third part, the production process of mattresses is described and visualized by Piet Marée, culminating in the delivery program and design suggestions. The text is set in Baskerville.

Gouden Banden:
uitgegeven ter gelegenheid van het vijftigjarig bestaan van de Coöperatieve Condensfabriek ‘Friesland’
Publisher: Coöperatieve Condensfabriek Friesland, Leeuwarden
Year of publication: 1963
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 280x210mm
Number of pages: 64
Number of illustrations: 47 black & white photographs; 14 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Meijer Offset, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Ed van der Elsken
Design: Theo Kurpershoek
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Not everyone lends him/herself to working in a team or on assignment, and Ed van der Elsken (1925- 1990) retained control over the composition of company photo books in which he was involved. He was a loner who loathed the making of reportages for a company profile. He preferred making loose documentary travel reportages for a movie or photo book, whether a monograph or a promotional publication concerning the dairy industry such as Gouden Banden [Golden Ties] (1963) and Wereldreis in foto’s [World Travel in Photos] (1968) was all the same to him. Typical of Van der Elsken was that he managed to achieve the corporate world to pay for his projects. Gouden Banden is a prototype of a company photo book in which social documentary (from Sweet Life, 1966) is included that does not refer to the company. The book contains grainy street photography in foreign markets of the milkfactory.

Wereldreis in foto’s 1–4 Ed van der Elsken
Publisher: Coöperatieve Condensfabriek Friesland, Leeuwarden
Year of publication: 1967-1968
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 250x250mm
Number of pages: 52
Number of illustrations: 57 bl&wh (vol1); 45 bl&wh (vol 2); 55 bl&wh (vol 3); 51 bl&wh (vol 4)
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Meijer Offset, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Ed van der Elsken
Design: Ed van der Elsken
Text: E. van der Elsken; J.A. van Dongen (editing)
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Not everyone lends him/herself to working in a team or on assignment; Ed van der Elsken (1925- 1990) kept control over the composition of company photo books. He was a loner who loathed the making of reportages for a company profile; he did not do that sort of thing. He preferred making loose travel reportages for a movie or documentary photo book, whether it is a monograph or a promotional publication concerning the dairy industry, such as Gouden Banden [Golden Ties] (1963) and Wereldreis in foto’s [World Travel in Photos] (1968) was all the same to him. Typical of Van der Elsken was that he managed to achieve the corporate world to finance his projects. Wereldreis in foto’s, in 4 parts, appeared at various times. Part 1 is released in March 1967, part 4 as a New Year's gift for 1968. The company itself is not presented. The series of four photo booklets is a prototype of a company photo book in which social documentary (from Sweet Life, 1966) is included that does not directly refer to the company. The books contain grainy street photography in foreign markets of the milk factory.

BBB: bouwen en industrie; bouwen en speurwerk; bouwen en organisatie
Publisher: Bredero’s Bouwbedrijf NV, Utrecht
Year of publication: 1960
Binding: hardcover with dust jacket
Size: 270x260mm
Number of pages: 116
Number of illustrations: 120 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV,Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: Dick Elffers en Bob Duyvelshoff
Text: D. Dresden; J. de Vries (editing); B. Schierbeek (literary contribution); J.J. Vriend
Type: promotional book
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

BBB (1960) is typically a graphic design by Dick Elffers (1910-1990), and similar to that of another company photo book he composed that appeared a year earlier: 1909 PLEM 1959. Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975) made a company profile in a reportage, photographed the building process and research, made from studies of B2-blocks, documented completed buildings and the work field abroad. The promotional book contains functional illustrations, including schematic drawings, a graphic representation of a construction skeleton, as well as a map of Netherlands. In BBB the frequent use of primary colors directly onto the photographs derives straight from the design for IBB (1950) by Piet Zwart.

Heterogeen evenwicht
Publisher: Chemische Industrie Uithoorn NV CINDU, Uithoorn
Year of publication: 1961
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 210x240mm
Number of pages: 36
Number of illustrations: 37 black & white photographs, 12 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; urban landscapes; documentary photography
Printer: Kasteel van Aemstel, Amsterdam
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: B. Mol
Text: J.B.I. Born; M. van Marwijk Kooy
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Heterogeen evenwicht [Heterogeneous equilibrium] (1961) immediately stands out in the stylish characteristics of modernism in the design of the front cover. Alongside a company profile reportage of chemical industry Uithoorn NV (CINDU) Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975) delivered urban landscapes, made photographs of a blast furnace, the laboratory, flats, children in a swimming pool, storage, and form studies of vessels, petrochemical units and the application of plastics and polyesters. The booklet includes tabs and is interleaved with transparent pages. An English language reprint was published in 1965.

cavalcade: Philips world-wide
Publisher: Philips, Eindhoven
Year of publication: 1963
Binding: hardcover with dust jacket
Size: 270x280mm
Number of pages: 108
Number of illustrations: 435 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; product photography; interior/exterior
Printer: Drukkerij Meier NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Photography: company photographers
Design: J. Schrofer and K. Nieuwenhuijzen
Text: L.P.A. Soeterboek; J.H. van Lonkhuyzen and J.Th.A. van Haaren (editing)
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Mirelle Thijsen/IPhoR, Amsterdam

Cavalcade (1963) is one of the rare examples of a company photo book directed and designed by Jurriaan Schrofer (1926-1990) that does not involve a team of photographers, or even commissioned photography by a professional photographer, but relies entirely on archival corporate photography. The book is prepared according to cinematic principles; a mounted promotional publication for Philips contains collages of product and corporate photography, photographs of lighting, sound and electronics in public buildings, telecommunications, education, in-and exteriors of hospitals. Graphic designer Schrofer was responsible for supervising the book production and compiling a color scheme for the chapters. The text is set in the Gill. The dummy of the English-language edition Cavalcade is in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and provides insight into his system typography and layout, a trademark of Schrofer, consisting of cinematic photo-strips.

The finishing touch 100 jaar Twentsche Stoombleekerij NV door Max Dendermonde en Carel Blazer
Publisher: NV Twentsche Stoomblekerij, Goor
Year of publication: 1957
Binding: hardcover
Size: 270x200mm
Number of pages: 96
Number of illustrations: 94 black & white photographs; 2 color
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile; landscape photography and folklore
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Carel Blazer
Design: Gerard Wernars
Text: Max Dendermonde (company history)
Type: commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Copywriter and novelist Max Dendermonde (1919-2004) wrote the company history for the finishing touch: 100 years Twentsche Stoombleekerij NV (1957). Carel Blazer made a company profile by way of a reportage in this factory for steam bleaching and some pictures of landscape and folklore. Because of the way the story is told, this commemoration book is both reflective of the type filmic scenario and visual narrative. The text, prepared in columns and set in Baskerville, instantaneously responds to the photography. Carel Blazer ((1911-1980) has collaborated with several designers. In addition to Benno Wissing, Gerard Wernars (1924) has been a frequent collaborator. In 1957, Blazer and Wernars compiled The finishing touch, seven years later the team put together another notable publication:Verkenning van het onbekende [Exploration into the unknown] (1964) for Royal Dutch Shell.

Staaltest. Vijf en twintig jaar van kijken & kiezen
Publisher: Röntgen Technische Dienst nv RTD, Rotterdam
Year of publication: 1962
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 230x210mm
Number of pages: 62
Number of illustrations: 16 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Drukkerij Hooiberg, Epe
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Ed Suister
Design: Charles Jongejans
Text: Jan Elburg (literary contribution)
Type: commemoration book (25 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Jan Elburg (1919-1992) was a poet and lecturer at the Institute for Arts and Crafts Education in Amsterdam. His poetry was brisk and locked into the dynamics of post-war optimism as proclaimed in the company photobook. Elburg is the author of two important company photobooks published in 1962: De verbinding [The connection], commissioned by the PTT, and staal test [steel test] (1962), commissioned by the X-ray Technical Service (RTD). The commemoration book contains full bleeding images of twenty-five years of (professional) looking and choosing, tasting and testing, in everyday life. The language is proverbial and the text fragments are reproduced on thin transparent paper. The edition includes an English language academic text on the book topic.

De trein hoort erbij: Ter gelegenheid van het 125-jarig bestaan van de Spoorwegen in Nederland
Publisher: NV Nederlandse Spoorwegen NS, Utrecht
Year of publication: 1964
Binding: paperback
Size: 180x120mm
Number of pages: 160
Number of illustrations: 53 black & white photographs; 6 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; reportage; archival photography
Printer: A.W. Bruna & Zoon, Utrecht
Type of reproduction: letter press and copper plate printing
Photography: Kees Scherer; Cas Oorthuys; Hans de Boer; Dolf Toussaint; E. Salomon; J. Kamman
Design: Jaap Romijn and Gerard Douwe
Text: J. Romijn, P. Kemp; C. Busken Huet; F. Coenen; S. Carmiggelt (literary contribution)
Type: Commemoration book (125 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

De trein hoort erbij [The train belongs here] (1964) is one of the few commemoration books that have appeared in the form of a photo pocket published in the Bruna-pocket series. The text is set in Bembo. The captions with the photographs run through on the double pages and enhance the story line. Dynamic pictures of rail travel by Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975) are realized as part of a commission for the jubilee stamps 125 Dutch railways. Included in the pocket are numerous fashion prints, engravings, advertising posters and children's drawings on the cultural history of traveling and the introduction of the train. The editors considered the encyclopaedic form of the handy pocket as the most democratic way to show that everyone in the company is ‘in principle equal – the mechanic is as indispensable as the Director.’

Een eeuw in beweging
Publisher: Koninklijke Machinefabriek Stork NV, Hengelo
Year of publication: 1968
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 230x190mm
Number of pages: 56
Number of illustrations: 27 black & white photographs; 12 color
Type of illustrations: reportage; archival photography
Printer: Koninklijke Drukkerij G.J. Thieme NV, Nijmegen
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Aart Klein
Design: Hans Barvelink
Text: A. Alberts (company history)
Type: Commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

In the late 1960s photographer Aart Klein (1909-2001) and designer Hans Barvelink (1931) worked together as a steady team. The cooperation stemmed from the communal book production Holland wordt groter [Holland becomes larger] (1961). They compiled four company photo books in the period 1966-1973, including Een eeuw in beweging [A Century in Motion] (1968). In this booklet a large number of fullpage graphic images by Aart Klein is reproduced. This commissioned photo work, and photographs from the archives of the photographer and the company's, show industrial progress, daily life and leisure activities. Novelist and historian A. Alberts was the author involved in the first three publications.

Synthese: kunst hars fabriek synthese n.v. Katwijk Holland
Publisher: Kunst hars fabriek synthese n.v., Katwijk
Year of publication: [1958]
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 230 x 210mm
Number of pages: 32
Number of illustrations: 38 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: Dick Elffers
Text: Max Dendermonde (company history)
Type: promotional book
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Synthese (1958) appeared in the same year as AKI, and has similar features and is commissioned by a factory in practically the same branche, the synthetic resin industry. The publication is typical for the signature of Dick Elffers (1910-1990) of the type photo-typo-text and is interleaved with transparent pages. The brochure contains archival photography from non-private archives, waterscapes, and reportages by Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975) on the winning of pine resin and the production of synthetic resin. Synthese includes 19 illustrations by Dick Elffers, including a city map, dots, squares, and a graphical representation of chemical structures.




An innovator in graphic design, typography, photography and furniture design Nederland Bouwt Betonwegen Paul Schuitema Company Photography

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Nederland Bouwt Betonwegen.

Schuitema, Paul -

Published by Amsterdam, ENCY-CEMY N.V. (1938), Photo-illustrated stiff wrappers designed in photomontage by Schuitema (softcover) in plastic ringbinder , 29,7 x 21 cms., 80 pp. throughout photo-illustrated, folded map, text in Dutch. 
An innovator in graphic design, typography, photography and furniture design, Paul Schuitema was a member of Kurt Schwitters’ Ring neue Werbegestalter (Circle of New Designers), whose associates included László Moholy-NagyHerbert Bayerand Jan Tschichold. Yet despite Schuitema’s significant role in the development of typography for mass communication and advertising, he remains less recognised than his contemporaries. A new monograph by Dick Maan sets to redress this balance, and to offer the first concise overview of Schuitema’s work including his graphic design and typography, as well as his photography, furniture and film work.
schuitema-spread-1.jpg
While he began his artistic career as a painter, studying at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Rotterdam, Schuitema turned away from what he saw as a bourgeois activity after the First World War, and instead, in line with the Russian Constructivists and German Bauhaus activists, embraced modern technology and mass production. "The war of 1914-1918 had demonstrated that fine words and slogans were nonsense, romanticism had ended in bloodshed, heroism and patriotism were only for profit," he wrote in the exhibition catalogue for a retrospective of his work at the Kunstgewerbe Museum of Zurich in 1967. "Everything had turned out to be dirty, mendacious and full of false pathos. The function of art was to reassume the lost position. Graphic art had to be extremely functional; printwork had selling as its goal, it had to be clear and purposeful. In fact, it meant a marriage between typography and photography."
schuitema-spread-2.jpg
Schuitema strove to remove all decorative flourishes from his work, concentrating on sans-serif lettering as a means to communicate more directly and practically with the reader. He was similarly experimental with his photography and, alongside his colleagues Piet Zwart and Gerard Kiljan, contributed significantly to the development of New Photography in the Netherlands, becoming one of the first Dutch teachers of photography at the Academy of Visual Art in The Hague. He remained linked to the university until his retirement in 1962, and his integration of photography and typography also resulted in a number of striking adverts, most particularly for the Van Berkel companies.
Schuitema spread
Maan’s book contains excellent visuals of all this work, as well as images from Schuitema’s experimental film work and his mass-production furniture design, some of which is still being manufactured today, more than 70 years after its inception. Tracing and accurately dating the images was no easy task, in part due to Schuitema’s belief that his early designs were simply "old paper" and was therefore a somewhat erratic archivist of his own work. Inevitably however, with his work continuing to appear in retrospective exhibitions, these pieces have in fact become collector’s items, a trend that is set to continue with the publication of this book, which offers an excellent introduction to over 50 years of his work.


Paul Schuitema & Berkel's Patent grafisch ontwerp & fotografie ...

Paul Schuitema De Vries Robbe & Co Gorinchem Gorinchem Graphic Design Company Photography





















Typophoto WAAR NEDERLAND TROTSCH OP IS Paul Schuitema Photography

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WAAR NEDERLAND TROTSCH OP IS, HOE WE TEGEN HET WATER VOCHTEN EN WAT WE ER MEE DEDEN

by Schuitema, Paul

Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff, 1940. Hardcover. Cloth-backed boards (photo-montage by Schuitema on front board); 4to; unpaginated (approx. pp. 50), with photo-illustrations in b/w and color throughout. Photographs and photo-montage by Schuitema, Oorthuis, Besnyo, Brusse, Fernhout, Blazer, van Tijn, Andriesse, Zwart, Heyns.
This was a major part in revolutionising graphic design and was a combination of typography and photography hence the name typophoto. Typophoto is the visually most precise way of visually communicating, it was Moholy Nagy that interpreted the photography into this idea and Herbert Bayer who incorporated the typography to create some really interesting pieces of art.
Typography is the communication that is composed of type and photography is the visual representation of what can be found out optically. 
Moholy Nagy eventually started experimenting more on this and started to use ‘camera – less’ techniques that produced an atmospheric view of unidentifiable shapes.
Typofoto the magazine was photographed by Paul Schuitema, the magazine was to show the mixes in photography & mixing it up graphically. 
Image
12 juli 2007 Wim Crouwel 
De Nederlandse kunstenaar Paul Schuitema was niet alleen als graficus actief, maar ontwierp ook meubilair, fotografeerde, maakte films, schilderde en gaf les. Schuitema werd geboren in 1897 in Groningen en studeerde aan de Academie in Rotterdam. In de jaren twintig van de twintigste eeuw verschoof zijn aandacht steeds meer naar typografisch ontwerp. Zo ontwierp hij tientallen reclame-catalogi voor Van Berkel's Patent, maar ook politiek links geëngageerde geschriften. Zijn krachtige typografische ontwerpen baarden veel opzien. Opvallend aan zijn stijl was dat hij vooral de kleuren zwart, wit en rood gebruikte en koos voor dikke schreefloze letters. Na 1926 introduceerde hij ook fotografische elementen in zijn ontwerpen. Hij was een van de eerste ontwerpers die gebruik maakten van de fotomontage voor industriële vormgeving.

Schuitema speelde van 1930 tot 1959 een belangrijke rol als medeoprichter en docent van de afdeling Reclame-ontwerpen aan de Haagse academie van Beeldende Kunsten, waar Wim Brusse, Dick Elffers, Piet Zwart en Gerard Kiljan zijn collega's waren. Met die laatste twee wordt Schuitema vaak gerekend tot de pioniers van de nieuwe typografie en de nieuwe fotografie, stromingen die zich kenmerken door het duidelijk, kort en krachtig overbrengen van de boodschap.

Asymmetrie
Over typografie wordt vaak gediscussieerd in termen van 'mooi' of 'lelijk'. Zelf bezigde Paul Schuitema die termen niet. Hij schreef er eens over: 'Mooi en lelijk zijn begrippen waar we heden onmogelijk op af kunnen gaan'. Liever hadden hij en zijn mede-geloofsgenoten het over 'effectief' en 'functioneel', termen die veel beter pasten bij hun opvatting over typografie. Dat de meetbaarheid van die effectiviteit en functionaliteit nauwelijks mogelijk was deerde hen niet, hun heilige geloof in de nieuwe ontwikkelingen compenseerde dat volledig. Allen werden gedreven door de louterende 'nieuwe typografie', de 'moderne typografie', dat hing in de lucht. Modern was de alles beheersende term, het modernisme was de drijvende beweging aan het begin van de twintigste eeuw.

Schuitema was als typografisch en fotografisch ontwerper een kind van zijn tijd. De ontwikkeling in die tijd werd wel het meest precies en didactisch onder woorden gebracht door grafisch en typografisch ontwerper Jan Tschichold in zijn beroemde boek die neue typographie uit 1928. Elke decoratie werd afgezworen, drukwerk behoorde strikt functioneel te zijn. Het drukwerk van de twintigste eeuw moest revolutionair zijn en voor sommige kunstenaars was deze filosofie geheel in lijn met die van de communistische revolutie.

Drukwerk was bij voorkeur asymmetrisch, want symmetrie hield het zetten in van woorden en zinnen tot vormen die decoratief en artificieel waren, met hun betekenis had dat niets van doen. Asymmetrie was ook 'dynamisch' en niet 'statisch'; daarom was het in harmonie met de tijd. Het lettertype moest schreefloos zijn, want zonder schreven waren letters ontdaan van overbodigheden en gestript tot op hun meest bruikbare elementaire vormen. 

Communicatie
Tschichold was de eerste die deze theorieën helder verwoordde; hij liet zien hoe de modernistische beweging in de kunst in verband gebracht kon worden met het gewone drukken. Drukwerk zei hij, raakt evenals architectuur, iedereen op haast ieder moment van zijn leven. 

Tschichold was van huis uit zeer vertrouwd met letters en typografie. Al vroeg kreeg hij lessen in lettertekenen en kalligrafie en tekende hij zijn eerste eigen letters. Hij had veel belangstelling voor kunstzinnige, mooie boeken die werden gemaakt in de traditionele vorm van rond de eeuwwisseling. 

In het begin van de jaren twintig hoorde hij voor het eerst van de nieuwe constructivistische beweging in Rusland; pas op z'n eenentwintigste, in 1923, zag hij de eerste grote tentoonstelling van het Bauhaus in Weimar, met werk van onder anderen Herbert Bayer, Josef Albers, Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius en Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Hij kreeg ook al gauw kennis van het werk van El Lissitzky en Kurt Schwitters en van de Nederlanders Theo van Doesburg, Piet Zwart en Paul Schuitema. Tschichold brak toen radicaal met traditionele opvattingen. Hij werd in vervolg daarop weliswaar geen lid van de communistische partij maar schreef zijn voornaam Jan, sympathiserend, wel een tijd lang als Iwan. Hij was zeker niet de eerste vernieuwer, maar wel de meest gearticuleerde intellectuele propagandist en verspreider van de nieuwe verworvenheden.

In 1925 publiceerde Tschichold zijn eerste manifest Elementaire typografie, waarin hij stelde dat typografie maar één bedoeling heeft, namelijk communicatie. Communicatie moet op de kortste, eenvoudigste en meest ondubbelzinnige wijze tot stand worden gebracht. Om z'n sociale functie te kunnen uitoefenen moest er een structuur in de samenstellende delen worden gebracht. De basiselementen van de nieuwe typografie omvatten, in de visueel georganiseerde wereld, het meest precieze beeld namelijk fotografie. De basis-lettervorm was de schreefloze in al z'n variaties: licht, medium, vet, van smal tot breed. Met begrippen als 'mooi' en 'lelijk' kon ook Tschichold niet meer niet uit de voeten.

Schuitema was zo'n vijf jaar ouder dan Tschichold, dus praktisch een tijdgenoot, maar bepaald niet een typische schrijvende intellectueel. Hij was meer de praktische man die met beide benen in de harde praktijk stond. Hij paste al die zaken die Tschichold op papier zette, van nature al toe, gedreven door een groot gevoel voor sociale rechtvaardigheid. Het werk moest, op z'n Gronings 'recht voor de kop zijn', dus zonder flauwekul. Over de letter zei hij dat deze niets anders was dan een leesding, dat duidelijk, helder en onversierd gebruikt moest worden. Zoals de meeste vernieuwende ontwerpers in die tijd was ook Schuitema wat je noemt bepaald 'links angehaucht'. 

Schreefloos
Sommige ontwerpers brachten hun sociale gevoeligheid op een specifieke manier tot uiting, de een meer door nadruk te leggen op praktisch gebruik en toepasbaarheid van typografie, de ander door uitdrukking te geven aan het gelijkheidsbeginsel. Dat werd bijvoorbeeld duidelijk bij de voorliefde van sommige typografen voor het werken in geheel onderkast.

Op het briefpapier van het Bauhaus, ontworpen door Herbert Bayer, stond onderaan de regel: 'wir schreiben alles klein, denn wir sparen damit zeit', een typisch praktisch voorschrift, vooral in de Duitse taal met al haar kapitalen. De typograaf Willem Sandberg daarentegen gebruikte bij voorkeur onderkast om uitdrukking te geven aan gelijkheid. Hij vergeleek kapitalen graag met hoge hoeden. Typografie met hoge hoeden hield ongelijkheid en sociale rangorde in. 

Hoe dan ook, in geen van de gevallen was het een kwestie van 'mooi' of 'lelijk'; functionaliteit en uitdrukking geven aan de tijd waarin je leefde waren de leidende beginselen. Dat uitdrukking geven aan het tijdsgewricht was een typische les die afkomstig was van de constructivisten in het kielzog van de Russische Revolutie. Hier ging het haast letterlijk om elementaire omstandigheden die moesten veranderen en waaraan, ook visueel, uitdrukking moest worden gegeven. Het vroege werk van haast alle volgelingen van de nieuwe beweging was zichtbaar beïnvloed door constructivisten als El Lissitzky. Het was schreefloos, beklemtonend en dynamisch. De actieve kleur rood van de revolutie speelde een belangrijke rol.

Ondanks het verzet tegen esthetische, door vormwil gedreven ontwerperij en ondanks de toepassing van alle middelen om dat tegen te gaan, is het werk van Schuitema en tijdgenoten toch steeds precies te dateren. Dat dateren is vooral mogelijk op compositorisch-esthetische gronden. Je moet dus wel tot de conclusie komen dat elke vorm van typografie, hoe functioneel en elementair ook, esthetische beginselen in zich draagt. Het zijn de esthetiek van de revolutie, de esthetiek van het functionalisme of de esthetiek van de nieuwe zakelijkheid. Ook lettertypen ontkomen daar niet aan. De schreefloze letter in al z'n kaalheid, gestript tot het meest elementaire, is bijgeschreven in de analen van de moderne beweging en valt daarmee in een bepaalde esthetische categorie. 

De klassieke typografen hebben de uitingen van de nieuwe beweging altijd uiterst subjectief gevonden. De klassieke richting streefde juist niet naar dynamische typografie, maar naar rust en neutraliteit als middel tot onbelemmerde leesbaarheid van teksten; deze typografie bediende zich van vaste esthetische schema's zoals symmetrie, schreefletter, de verhoudingen van de gulden snede en esthetisch geconstrueerde margeprogressies voor de bladspiegel; vernieuwing was niet een begrip dat hen aansprak.

Het is interessant dat het moderne typografische streven in de twintigste eeuw, uitmondde in een beweging die ook streefde naar tijdloze objectieve typografie; een typografie die daardoor ook rustig en neutraal zou zijn en daarmee het lezen van een tekst niets in de weg zou leggen. Het leek erop dat de uitersten elkaar vonden. De zogenaamde Zwitserse typografie met een neutrale letter als de Helvetica, was de concretisering van deze neutraliteitsopvatting. De kunstenaar/architect Max Bill was een prominente woordvoerder ervan. 

In dit licht is het boeiend om te zien hoe Jan Tschichold op dit alles reageerde. Tegen het einde van de jaren dertig kreeg hij langzaam maar zeker opnieuw een wending van zijn artistieke geweten te verwerken. Het begon met een pleidooi dat asymmetrie en symmetrie best naast elkaar konden worden gebruikt en dat de nieuwe typografie zoals hij die zelf had helpen verspreiden, eigenlijk alleen voor reclamedoeleinden en gelegenheidsklusjes geschikt was en niet voor boeken. 

Max Bill was zijn felste bestrijder. Het artikel dat Tschichold als verdediging schreef onder de titel 'Glaube und Wirklichkeit' was een sterk typografisch statement waaruit bleek dat de uitersten elkaar zeker niet hadden gevonden.'Mooi' en'lelijk' zijn sindsdien dan ook niet meer weggeweest uit de discussies over typografie. 

Toetsenbord
Het is belangrijk dat in deze tijd, nu het begrip grafische vormgeving onder invloed van computer en nieuwe media een andere en veel bredere inhoud heeft gekregen, het werk van een avant-gardist als Paul Schuitema opnieuw onder de aandacht wordt gebracht. Het is vooral van belang voor studenten in dit vak, die als het ware vergroeid zijn met muis en toetsenbord, om te zien hoe met tijdrovend, moeizaam knip- en plakwerk en gedreven door het geloof in een nieuwe betere wereld, zulk boeiend en inspirerend werk kon ontstaan. Waar putten jonge ontwerpers op dit moment hun inspiratie uit? Voor hen is de tentoonstelling een must. (Wim Crouwel)

Wim Crouwel is grafisch vormgever en hoogleraar. Dit artikel is een aangepaste weergave van de lezing die hij gaf ter gelegenheid van de opening van de tentoonstelling 'Paul Schuitema. De foto in de avant-gardetypografie.' De tentoonstelling was te bezichtigen t/m 2 september 2007, Museum Meermanno, Prinsessegracht 30, Den Haag, www.meermanno.nl.










Coming soon Errata Editions Martin Parr: Bad Weather Richard Billingham: Ray's a Laugh Donigan Cumming: The Stage Photography

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A spread from The Stage, Maquam Press, 1999, featured in Errata Editions' Books on Books #19.

Read more: The Stage: Donigan Cumming’s Photography of the Absurd - LightBox http://lightbox.time.com/2014/03/20/photos-of-the-absurd/#ixzz2whtqTVqI


Martin Parr's Bad Weather is the debut book from Britain's most world-renown and prolific photographers. Armed with wry humor (and a water-proof camera), Parr captured the social landscape of the UK during downpours, snow storms and the most challenging elements. Published in 1982, Bad Weather has been long out of print and is one of Parr's most sought after books. Books on Books # 17 offers an in-depth study of this important photobook including a new essay by Thomas Weski called Even the Queen Gets Wet. 

Books on Books #17
Martin Parr: Bad Weather
Essays by Thomas Weski, Peter Turner, Jeffrey Ladd
Hardcover w/ Dustjacket
90 pp, 9.5 x 7 in.
50 Duotone illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-935004-33-2
$39.95
Release date: May 2014
Limited Edition Set also available








Richard Billingham's Ray's a Laugh is considered one of the most important contemporary photobooks from Britain. Centered around Billingham's working-class family who live in a cramped Birmingham high-rise tenement apartment and his father Ray - a chronic alcoholic - these candid snapshots describe their daily lives in a visual diary that is raw, intimate, touching and often uncomfortably humorous. Books on Books #18 contains every page spread from this classic book including a contemporary essay by Charlotte Cotton. 

Books on Books #18
Richard Billingham: Ray's a Laugh
Essays by Charlotte Cotton, Jeffrey Ladd
Hardcover w/ Dustjacket
108 pp, 9.5 x 7 in.
90 Color illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-935004-35-6
$39.95
Release date: May 2014
Limited Edition Set also available








Donigan Cumming's The Stage is one of the most challenging photobooks published in the last century. Collaborating with his subjects to explore a kind of psychological portraiture, Cumming created a theatre of domestic and institutional interiors peopled by the strange and eccentric. Books on Books #19 presents an in-depth study of this remarkable and little known Canadian photobook with an essay by Richard Enright called The Overwhelming Quotidian: Donigan Cumming and The Stage. 

Books on Books #19
Donigan Cumming: The Stage
Essays by Robert Enright, Jeffrey Ladd
Hardcover w/ Dustjacket
240 pp, 9.5 x 7 in.
275 Duotone & Color illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-935004-37-0
$39.95
Release date: May 2014
Limited Edition Set also available










Coming soon Amsterdam! Old Photographs 1947-1970 Design Anthon Beeke Collectief Ed van der Elsken Photography

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Amsterdam! (ENG)

Old Photographs 1947-1970
Ed van der Elsken

'My Amsterdam. My Amsterdammers.' That's what Ed van der Elsken wanted to capture, preferably in close shots. 'People from decent neighborhoods: Nieuwmarkt, the Jewish quarter, De Pijp, Kattenburg. People who never make it over to Apollolaan or to the ritzy Goudkust... well maybe as a milkman, or as a burglar.'

Ed van der Elsken liked commotion, action. He photographed demonstrations, markets, fairs, traffic. But also workmen, rebellious young people and beautiful girls. And the 'mean, boorish cops' who often took drastic measures during riots. The photographs taken in 'his city' between 1947 and 1970 were compiled in the book Amsterdam!, the first edition of which was published in 1979. His innovative style has made this book a classic. Now it is being republished. New scans of all the original negatives have been made for this, and the resulting photographs are more beautiful than ever.

Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990) was a photographer and filmmaker who managed to find huge delight in ordinary people and scenes. His photographs instantly convey what life, to him, was about: courage, individualism and freedom. He published more than twenty books of photographs, including Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint Germain des Prés (Love on the Left Bank) (1956), Eye Love You (1977) and Parijs! Foto's 1950-1954 (Paris! Photographs 1950-1954) (1981). 

The book will be ready at the end of May 2014. Order your copy in advance.

240 pages
29 x 30 cm
260 photographs
design Anthon Beeke Collectief
English edition of the famous photo book Amsterdam! by Ed van der Elsken
Published in cooperation with Top Notch and Lecturis


Amsterdam! Ed van der Elsken (Vanaf 6 juni)

Mijn Amsterdammers. Vaak gabbertjes, waar je „Ha die ome Sjaak” tegen zegt, of „Tante Nel!”, of „Hee, ouwe ruigpoot”, of „Dag moppie”. Ed van der Elsken in zijn fotoboek Amsterdam! Oude foto’s 1947-1970

Tentoonstelling

Van 6 juni t/m 14 september is de tentoon stelling Amster dam! Ed van der Elsken, oude foto’s 1947-1970 te zien in het Stads archief Amster dam.


Het Stads archief Amsterdam presenteert Amsterdam! Ed van der Elsken, oude foto’s 1947-1970, naar aanleiding van de herdruk van het gelijknamige fotoboek. De expositie van vintage prints in combinatie met niet eerder getoonde beelden geeft een nieuwe kijk op Ed van der Elskens bijzondere beeldverhaal van Amsterdam in de jaren ’50 en ’60. Velen hebben de beroemde foto van het meisje met het suikerspinkapsel op de Nieuwmarktkermis of de opgeschoten nozems van de Nieuwendijk op hun netvlies staan. Minder bekend zijn echter de andere foto’s uit het boek, van bijvoorbeeld de vervallen Jodenbuurt.

Met het beeldverhaal dat grafisch ontwerper Anthon Beeke en fotograaf Ed van der Elsken (1925 – 1990) in 1979 samenstelden, lieten zij een heel eigen en nieuw geluid horen. Op de tentoonstelling zal het voor de bezoeker zijn alsof hij door het boek loopt.


Broodjeszaak op de Jodenbreestraat, Amsterdam, ca. 1965. ©Ed van der Elsken/Nederlands Fotomuseum, courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery

Boek

Eind mei wordt het fotoboek Amsterdam! Ed van der Elsken opnieuw uitgegeven door Top Notch in samenwerking met Lecturis en Uitgeverij Bas Lubberhuizen. Top Notch is in 1995 opgericht, het platenlabel is marktleider in de Nederlandse hiphop. Ook verschijnen er regelmatig films en boeken bij het label.


Ruim 300 negatieven zijn door het Nederlands Fotomuseum opnieuw ingescand en bewerkt voor de unieke heruitgave van het boek. De opmaak van het boek is in handen van het Anthon Beeke collectief, geheel in lijn met de originele opmaak. Amsterdam! verschijnt zowel met de originele Nederlandse onderschriften als in een Engelstalige uitgave.

Schutting

Half maart gaat de Amsterdam!-campagne van start met een metershoge bouwwand op de Nieuwendijk (ter hoogte van nummer 196), de oudste winkelstraat van Amsterdam en een werkplek voor Ed van der Elsken. Elf foto’s uit het boek zullen gedurende de werkzaamheden deze wand sieren. Vanaf dat moment is de intekening voor Amsterdam! Ed van der Elsken begonnen.




De straat op! Drie Amsterdamse straatfotografen

Van 6 juni t/m 21 september is De straat op! Drie Amsterdamse straatfotografen te zien in de centrale hal van het Stadsarchief, met recent werk van Hans Eijkelboom, Reinier Gerritsen en Theo Niekus.


De natuurlijke habitat van de straatfotograaf is de grote stad. Hij of zij zoekt plekken waar de interactie tussen mensen maximaal is, waar inwoners, middenstanders, dienstverleners, bezoekers, reizigers en toeristen zich mengen en het straatbeeld bepalen. Vooral in het centrum van de grote stad leven mensen met verschillende sociale achtergronden dicht op elkaar en komen elkaar dagelijks tegen op straat. In Amsterdam ligt het werkterrein van de straatfotograaf rondom het oude centrum. Dat gold voor Ed van der Elsken en dat geldt voor Hans Eijkelboom, Reinier Gerritsen en Theo Niekus.

Wie staan er op deze foto’s?

Wij zijn op zoek naar mensen die op foto’s staan van Ed van der Elsken, uit het boek Amsterdam!. Herkent u zich of herkent u iemand in één van de onderstaande foto’s? Of kunt u iets vertellen over de plek waar de foto is gemaakt? Wij zijn ontzettend benieuwd naar de verhalen achter deze foto’s. De informatie willen we graag gebruiken bij de voorbereiding van de tentoonstelling die 6 juni opent. Stuur uw informatie voor 30 april naar: edvanderelsken@stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl


Drie jongetjes op de Snoekjesgracht. Amsterdam, 1961 ©Ed van der Elsken/Nederlands Fotomuseum, courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery


Groenburgwal, Amsterdam, 1956 ©Ed van der Elsken/Nederlands Fotomuseum, courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery
'In die tijd begonnen Surinamers en zwarte Amerikaanse militaire verlofgangers de Cotton Club, een jazzclub, op de Nieuwmarkt te bezoeken.' Uit: Once Upon A Time (Amsterdam, Uitgeverij Fragment, 1991).


Kermis op de Nieuwmarkt, meisje met suikerspinkapsel. Amsterdam, 1956. ©Ed van der Elsken/Nederlands Fotomuseum, courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery
‘Ik had een Leica met een hele lichtsterke lens: 1.1, waarmee je bij weinig licht toch een perfect gedekt negatief kreeg en een mooie onscherpte op de achtergrond.’ Uit: Once Upon A Time


De Bouwvakrellen in de zomer van 1966. Damrak, Amsterdam, 1966. ©Ed van der Elsken/Nederlands Fotomuseum, courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery
Bouwvakrellen 14 juni 1966, Amsterdam. Bouwvakkers, woest geworden door een verkeerd begrepen incident, bezetten de binnenstad, belegeren het gebouw van het dagblad De Telegraaf op de Nieuwezijds. De rel rolt door de stad en de Amsterdamse jeugd werpt een steentje mee. Uit: Jong Nederland “Adorabele rotzakken” 1947-1987.


Waterlooplein nr. 100-102, Amsterdam, 1962. © Ed van der Elsken/Nederlands Fotomuseum, courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery



Mr Barack Obama What you have missed in Amsterdam Report #6 Theo Niekus Street Photography

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Photomagazine Report #6 Theo Niekus

Theo Niekus, one of Holland’s great street photographers and author of “Damrak” and “Passengers” began publishing “Report” in 2009. This magazine format monograph is a vibrant collection of street photographs. The images are printed full page without text. Each issue individually continues the series of Theo Niekus’ street photography, a life’s work. Report was originally inspired by Reportage magazine by Menno van der Koppel and Colin Jacobson, and Daido Moriyama’s equally tireless street photography photozine “Record”. Each issue is printed on a small print run of just 500 copies, each stamped on the back cover with its individual copy number.

De straat op! Drie Amsterdamse straatfotografen
Van 6 juni t/m 21 september is De straat op! Drie Amsterdamse straatfotografen te zien in de centrale hal van het Stadsarchief, met recent werk van Hans Eijkelboom, Reinier Gerritsen en Theo Niekus.


De natuurlijke habitat van de straatfotograaf is de grote stad. Hij of zij zoekt plekken waar de interactie tussen mensen maximaal is, waar inwoners, middenstanders, dienstverleners, bezoekers, reizigers en toeristen zich mengen en het straatbeeld bepalen. Vooral in het centrum van de grote stad leven mensen met verschillende sociale achtergronden dicht op elkaar en komen elkaar dagelijks tegen op straat. In Amsterdam ligt het werkterrein van de straatfotograaf rondom het oude centrum. Dat gold voor Ed van der Elsken en dat geldt voor Hans Eijkelboom, Reinier Gerritsen en Theo Niekus.













Dutch Notable Photobooks by Martin Parr & Gerry Badger THE PHOTOBOOK: A HISTORY VOLUME III

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The Photobook: A History Volume III: by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger

PAT PADUA MARCH 13, 20140
photobook3
Rating: 4.5/5 ★★★★½ 

Martin Parr and Gerry Badger’s ambitious series The Photobook: A History is a blessing and a curse. These are essential reference books for anyone interested in photography, and especially for the photobook collector. The volumes include titles that the seasoned collector may well own—I am lucky to have books from each volume in my own photobook library. But watch your checkbook.
 Parr and Badger’s subjective histories potentially send the acquisitive personality on a hunt for elusive, pricy books they may have heard of but can’t afford, or that amazing Dutch or Japanese photobook they never knew existed. Get out your credit cards, or if you’re lucky, your library card.
The doorstopper tomes each feature a few hundred photobooks. Parr is himself the author of some, one of which, The Non-Conformists, I reviewed here last year. Parr and critic Gerry Badger select the books for inclusion in each volume, and Badger contributes text that puts the book into historical context. The text can be dry, but what you come for is the photography, artful covers and selected page-spreads laid out in tantalizing miniature, with detailed publication information to aid your acquisitive fever.
The first volume of Parr and Badger’s survey was published in 2004. In the 10 years since, the market has changed. The latest volume continues the historical survey with important post-war books left out of previous volumes, but the emphasis is on the contemporary photobook. If you follow these trends at all, you will recognize titles that reflect the state of the collector’s market.
And what a market! Photobooks are frequently published in runs of a few hundred copies, if that. When that first printing is gone, prices can skyrocket. I still think about the handful of times I had a chance to buy Cristina DeMiddel’s The Afronauts, first at its original cost of $40, then as the asking price went to three figures and finally a limited edition that was out of my budget at $250. Last I checked, that limited edition goes for $5,000 and up, for a book whose thousand copies went on sale in spring 2012 and fetched high prices in a matter of months.
The contemporary photobook is an art object and an investment, edutainment and fetish. DeMiddel’s book is one of the recent titles featured in Volume III’s final section, called “Cannibalizing Photography: Representing and Re-Presenting the Medium.” The chapter covers one of the most exciting developments in the medium, the rise of collections of found and repurposed photography. Such collections can shift the emphasis in a photobook away from the photographer to the editor. Volume III represents one of the most inventive editors, Erik Kessels, with a title from his series In Almost Every Picture, which takes the vernacular photo trend to a new level. These books take the kind of photos you find at flea markets, not as discrete snapshots but as an entire body of work, as in the volume of souvenir photos made at a Montreal restaurant in which patrons had their picture taken feeding a piglet out of a milk bottle.
The Photobook: A History Volume III is such a dense tome that I could write a full review about every chapter. The authors divide it into sections on Propaganda (also covered in Volume 1), Protest, Desire and other themes, with the caveat that a book may well fit into more than one category. The fluid categories lend an element of surprise to a narrative that doesn’t follow a straight line. The chapter on Propaganda encompasses the kind of political works you expect, but also includes a meat catalog from Czechoslovakia as well as a book promoting tourism in Marienbad, in which clever design combines with ordinary images to make a book that sings.
This is a theme that comes up again and again: a good photobook is more than a collection of good photographs. A fully-realized book marries design, image and text into a coherent narrative that is a work of art in its own right.
This volume, and perhaps the series, ends with a look to the future of photography: Google Street View. Doug Rickard poured through terabytes worth of street view images to put together his 2010 book A New American Picture. Rickard used this anonymous technology to capture the life of the underprivileged in America, and selected images that referenced the work of classic street photographers.
Throughout The Photobook: A History Volume III, Parr and Badger note the rise of Flickr and Facebook, and the seemingly bottomless pit of photography online. The challenge of the photobook consumer and creator is more than just sorting out one’s own aesthetic, but making sense of the image saturation that we face on a daily basis.
Physical books that expand the form, like The Afronauts, continue to appear, but that elusive book points to another direction for the future, one that the authors allude to but do not select for inclusion. DeMiddel’s highly collectable book has since been released in an affordable iPad version. But if a digital experience is what you want, what are you doing with this hardcopy contender that weighs in at over five pounds? The audience for this book, bibliophile and photographer alike, already knows they want it. I’m just going to confirm that they need it.
Actueel | 24 maart 2014 | Door: 

Groot aantal Nederlandse fotoboeken in Volume III van Parr/Badger

In het zojuist verschenen derde deel van The Photobook: A History staan net als in de eerste twee delen van dit internationale standaardwerk over fotoboeken 22 titels van Nederlandse fotografen en ontwerpers.
Samenstellers Gerry Badger en Martin Parr richten zich in Volume III van hun gezaghebbende overzicht op de periode vanaf de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Op een bepaalde manier is dit boek een uitwerking van het hoofdstuk ‘Modern Life’ uit Volume II, aldus Badger en Parr. Volume I verscheen in 2004, Volume II in 2006.
In de drie delen worden meer dan 700 titels getoond en beschreven. De publicatie van deze overzichten sloot aan bij de wereldwijd groeiende populariteit van het fotoboek. De eerste twee delen zijn invloedrijke naslagwerken geworden. Zo leidde opname van titels inThe Photobook vaak tot grotere verkopen en stijgende prijzen. Dat zal voor Volume III vast niet anders zijn.
Een opsomming van de in Volume III opgenomen boeken van Nederlandse fotografen en ontwerpers:
• Blauwe Maandag, 1975, verschillende fotografen, over de Nieuwmarktrellen, ontwerp Albert Blitz en Loe van Nimwegen
• The Virgin Sperm Dancer, 1972, Anna Beeke, ontwerp Anton Beeke
• Bisnisjongens/On the Game, 2006, Rob Philip, ontwerp Ineke Teeninga
• Communism and Cowgirls, 2004, Rob Hornstra, ontwerp De Russen
• What we Wear, 2011, Pieter van den Boogert, ontwerp Heijdens Karwei
 How Terry Likes His Coffee, 2010, Florian van Roekel, ontwerp Sybren Kuiper
• De Politiekapel van Suriname, 2010, Sara Blokland, ontwerp Willem van Zoetendaal
 Empty Bottles, 2007, WassinkLundgren, ontwerp Kummer + Herrman
• Gomorrah Girl, 2011, Valerio Spada, ontwerp Sybren Kuiper
• Interrogations, 2011, Donald Weber, ontwerp Heijdens Karwei, uitgave Schilt Publishing
• Olifantenpaadjes, 2001, Jan-Dirk van den Burg, ontwerp Erik Kessels
• Go No Go, 2003, Ad van Denderen, ontwerp Roelof Mulder

• Baghdad Calling, 2008, Geert van Kesteren, ontwerp Mevis en Van Deursen
• Black Passport, 2009, Stanley Greene, ontwerp Heijdens Karwei, uitgave Schilt Publishing
• Infidel, 2010, Tim Hetherington, ontwerp Heijdens Karwei
• Concresco, 2012, David Galjaard, ontwerp Katie McGonigal
 Retrieved, 2011, Charlotte Dumas, ontwerp Tessa van der Waals
• Sochi Singers, 2012, Rob Hornstra en Arnold van Bruggen, ontwerp Kummer + Herrman
• Flamboya, 2009, Viviane Sassen, ontwerp SYB
In Almost Every Picture IV, 2005, verzameld en ontworpen door Erik Kessels
• Lang zal ze leven/Happy Birthday, 2011, Anouk Kruithof
• In de krant, 1978, Hans Eykelboom
• Portraits and Cameras 1949-2009, 2009, Hans Eykelboom
photoq-bookshop-parr-badger-III-cover-43

L'Uomo in Fabbrica For CEO’s Only Foto Industria Bologna 2013 Fiat Company Photography

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L’uomo in fabbrica [Man in factory]
Publisher: Gruppo Fiat, Turin
Year of publication: 1971
Binding: hardcover (with paper dust jacket)
Size: 280 x 158 mm
Number of pages: 96
Number of illustrations: 92 black & white photographs; 12 color
Type of illustrations: documentary
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Aldo Moisio; Filiberto Rota; Enzo Isaia; e.g.
Text: Umberto Agnelli
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

In the publication L’uomo in fabbrica the automobile manufacturer Fiat expresses its affinity with its employees working on the shop floor, its focus on the importance of human workforce in factory work. A technical drawing of the Fiat 128 model is printed on the dust jacket. After a short introduction the book contains only photographs. A compilation of thumbnails, bleeding images and large images bordered with white bars show the reader a day at work in the factory. The variety in image size and the mixture of black & white and color photographs generate a dynamic flow in the visual narrative. The story begins with the employees going to work and it ends when they leave the Fiat complex; in addition, the storyline shows the fabrication of the Fiat 128. Captain of industry of the Fiat Group, Umberto Agnelli, is portrayed on the shop floor and wrote an introductory text.

For CEO’s Only is a selection of international company photobooks from the private collection of professional photographer Bart Sorgedrager, based in Amsterdam. Research assistant Clara Jankowski (MA Master Photographic Studies, Leiden University) has compiled a bibliography and captions for this particular selection of company photobooks and is presented in the exhibition as FOR CEO’S ONLY (alluding to the title of a company photobook by Richard Avedon for M&A Group in New York).


FIAT

logo-fiat-design-auto-motors
Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (FIAT) è stata fondata a Torino nel 1899 da un gruppo di investitori tra cui Giovanni Agnelli che più tardi divenne l’Amministratore Delegato della società. Per celebrare questo evento fu creato un manifesto e il nome della società in alto a sinistra del poster divenne il primo logo della società. Nel 1901 la società cambiò il suo logo con una lastra di ottone con il nome FIAT al centro. Nel 1925 il logo divenne circolare, rispetto alla forma ovale del 1904. La corona d’alloro attorno al cerchio era per celebrare la vittoria della società nella prima gara di auto a cui partecipò. La forma del marchio continuò a cambiare continuamente nel corso degli anni e ritornò alla forma circolare nel 1999. Il nuovo logo FIAT fu lanciato per la prima volta nel 2006 su una Bravo.

fiat 127 (1971) vs. fiat 127 concept
images courtesy david obendorfer

designed according to the stylistic canons of the 1970s, the resurrection of pio manzù’s fiat 127 is quite risky: the original model
was one of the first truly innovative cars of the 70s designed to be rational in style with clean volumes and pure, simple lines.
the danger of creating a car already seasoned at birth, as it were, with an imperceptible nostalgic effect is that it may not be
particularly attractive. with this being said, designer david obendorfer tries to unite the past and future in one car of updated
proportions and boasting with the unique combination forms influened by the model launched in 1971 with high-tech
solutions such as a multifunctional touch screen in the center of the dashboard.

enlarged in size compared to the original model, the fiat 127 concept is based on the fiat punto-alfa mito platform. 
the minimalist
interior follows the same rational concept featuring nostalgic elements that give a strong personality to the dashboard. the circular
vents in the center, the chrome handles and the design of the two-spoke steering wheel are clear references to the first 127 model.

Tentoonstelling eert Piò Manzù, geestelijk vader van de Fiat 127




















Pictures of a Factory For CEO’s Only Foto Industria Bologna 2013 Kurt Blum Company Photography

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BLUM, Kurt: Pictures of a Factory, 1959

BLUM, Kurt, Pictures of a Factory. / Photographs by Kurt BLUM. Text by Michele Parrella. Cover by Eugenio Carmi. – Zürich: Fretz & Wasmuth 1959. – 28,5 x 23,0 cm. [16] S. Text, [104] S. mit 101 Tiefdruck-Abb., Beiblatt «List of illustrations». Halbleinenband illustriert. Ohne Schutzumschlag erschienen. 


Blum was the subject of a 2012 retrospective at the Swiss Foundation for Photography . Immagine di una fabbrica is included in 802 Photo Books. A selection from the M+M. Auer collection "Kurt Blum (1922-2005), who was born in Berne, was one of the outstanding Swiss photographers of the post-war era. In addition to numerous stories for illustrated magazines, as of the 1950s he also did free artistic and experimental works which were presented to a wider public in exhibitions and publications. The focal points of his oeuvre were the artists’ portraits he took as of the late 1940s, larger work groups on the themes of dance and opera, and an intense involvement through photography and film with the world of industry and labor. Blum always regarded himself as an artist, however, and strove for photography to be recognized as an independent art medium. Above and beyond the documentary aspect, he sought subjective expressiveness, the atmospherically dense moment, the consciously composed photographic print. Blum thus belonged to the avant-garde of Swiss photography, so it is not surprising that he also played a role in the 'subjective photography' circle around Otto Steinert in Germany in the early 1950s....Kurt Blum worked for large industrial companies in northern Italy, leading in 1959 to the book Pictures of a factory (German title Lebendiger Stahl, 1960), in which he presented an almost infernal image of a steel works, sparks flying, by means of black-and-white photographs rich in contrasts"--Swiss Foundation for Photography 




For CEO’s Only is a selection of international company photobooks from the private collection of professional photographer Bart Sorgedrager, based in Amsterdam. Research assistant Clara Jankowski (MA Master Photographic Studies, Leiden University) has compiled a bibliography and captions for this particular selection of company photobooks and is presented in the exhibition as FOR CEO’S ONLY (alluding to the title of a company photobook by Richard Avedon for M&A Group in New York).


















For CEO’s Only Company Photobooks by Richard Avedon Lee Friedlander Kurt Blum Albert Renger-Patzsch Robert Doisneau William Klein Germaine Krull Margaret Bourke-White Edouard Boubat Paul Wolff Andre Kertesz Photography

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For CEO’s Only is a selection of international company photobooks from the private collection of professional photographer Bart Sorgedrager, based in Amsterdam. Research assistant Clara Jankowski (MA Master Photographic Studies, Leiden University) has compiled a bibliography and captions for this particular selection of company photobooks and is presented in the exhibition as FOR CEO’S ONLY (alluding to the title of a company photobook by Richard Avedon for M&A Group in New York).


For CEOs Only

AVEDON, Richard

Published by [New York: M&A Group, 2002

First Edition. Small square quarto. A company book intended to advertise a series of M&A Group meetings for CEOs on June 27, 2002, in New York. Features 21 photographs by Richard Avedon of CEOs at previous M&A Group events on June 21, November 29, and November 30, 2001. One spread portrays Stephen P. Kaufman, the CEO of Arrow Electronics, comparing Black Amex cards with Harvey Golub, former CEO of Amex, while Joseph P. Nacchio, CEO of Qwest, chimes in with his early mobile phone. Rare and little-known Avedon item; no copies in OCLC. Light edgewear, else fine in printed boards with a square cutout on the front board and a stone mounted to the front page. Two photo mounts on the inside of the rear pastedown suggest a photograph was either present or intended, perhaps of one of the CEOs pictured in the book. Housed in a custom clamshell box. 





CRAY at Chippewa Falls
Publisher: Cray Research, Inc., Minneapolis
Year of publication: 1987
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth; pasted label on front panel)
Size: 310 x 300 mm
Number of pages: 96
Number of illustrations: 79 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: photo reportage; documentary photography
Printer: Franklin Graphics, Inc., Nashville
Type of reproduction: offset lithography
Print run: 5000
Photography:Lee Friedlander
Text: Stuart Klipper (afterword)
Type: commemoration book (15 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

‘In 1986 Cray Research, Inc. invited American master photo grapher Lee Fried lander (1934) to create a photo-illustrated book commemorating the company’s 15th anniversary. Friedlander took these photographs at Cray Research, Inc., Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, birthplace of the Cray-1 supercomputer—then the fastest computer in the world. The book includes a range of subjects shot in Friedlander’s characteristic style: sober images of shop fronts and empty streets, views of the landscape and underbrush surrounding Chippewa Falls and close-up shots of workers. The result was a landmark visual record documenting the assembly of this awe-inspiring supercomputer and the people who made it.’ From: https://museum.stanford.edu/news_room/friedlander.html

Pictures of a factory
Publisher: Fretz & Wasmuth Editions, Zürich
Year of publication: 1961 (2nd edition); 1959 (1st edition)
Binding: hardcover
Size: 285 x 230 mm
Number of pages: 102
Number of illustrations: 101 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography
Printer: Fretz Brothers Ltd. Zürich, Switzerland
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Photography: Kurt Blum
Text: Michele Parrella
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

‘Kurt Blum [1922-2005] worked for large industrial companies in northern Italy, leading in 1959 to the book Pictures of a factory (reprinted in German language in 1960, title: Lebendiger Stahl), in which he presented an almost infernal image of steel works, sparks flying, by means of black-and-white photographs rich in contrasts. Above and beyond the documentary aspect, he soughtsubjective expressiveness, the atmospherically dense moment, conscious composedphotographic print. Blum belonged to the avant-garde of Swiss photography, so it is notsurprising that he also played a role in the “subjective photography” circle around Otto Steinert in Germany in the early 1950s.’ From: Swiss Foundation for Photography

Henkel
Publisher: Henkel & Cie GmbH, Düsseldorf
Year of publication: 1951
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth)
Size: 285 x 237 mm
Number of pages: 72
Number of illustrations: 34 color photographs
Type of illustrations: photo reportage; archival photography
Printer: A. Bagel, Düsseldorf
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Henkel Archive
Text: H.C. Hugo Henkel (prologue)
Type: commemoration book (75 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

This commemoration photobook celebrates the success story of a family business in chemical products that involved three generations across 75 years. The introduction tells the reader the story from Dr. Hugo Henkel’s (1881-1952) point of view. He embodies the third generation in the family business and describes how the factory began as a playground for him and later became his laboratory. His grandfather Fritz Henkel founded the company in 1876 in Aachen. Hugo Henkel became the first chemical engineer within the business. After 70 years of labor Henkel is looking back on the progression and innovation of their company. A new generation is about to take over. The layout is straightforward with on every left page a few lines of text and on the right page a bleeding image, sometimes with white bars on the bottom or on the upper side of the page. Because most of the photographs are highly retouched, everything depicted looks spotless and bright, even dark interiors like the shop floor.

Câbleries et tréfileries de Cossonay [Cables and wires of Cossonay]
Publisher: Câbleries et Tréfileries De Cossonay, Cossonay
Year of publication: [1972]
Binding: hardcover
Size: 280 x 240 mm
Number of pages: 72
Number of illustrations: 53 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: abstract and documentary photography
Printer: Jean Genoud, Lausanne
Type of reproduction: photolithography
Photography: Marcel Imsand
Type: commemoration book (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Câbleries et tréfileries de Cossonay is the result of a cooperation between photographer Marcel Imsand (1929) and the Swiss cable and wire company. This company photobook was produced in the French-speaking section of Switzerland; the publication of company books in that area has developed slower than in the German region. Marcel Imsand received much artistic freedom from the company, reflected in some of the chapter’s titles in the book: ‘Human’, ‘Machine’ and ‘Material’. Imsand photographed wires and cables to place emphasis on repetition, lines and form and thereby created visually rhythmic sequences. The selection of large images and use of full bleed, across the bind seam and in different sizes, create a dynamic design to complement the objects depicted. Imsand’s signature is explicit: black & white, coarse grain, close ups and expressive abstract photographs.

PROGRES [PROGRESS]
Publisher: Société anonyme Manufacture Belge de Lampes et de Matériel Électronique, Brussels
Year of publication: 1966
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth with pattern in relief)
Size: 325 x 237 mm
Number of pages: 226
Number of illustrations: 61 black & white photographs; 5 color
Type of illustrations: photo collages; abstract and portrait photography
Printer: l’Imprimerie Wellens-Pay, Brussels
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Print run: 5000
Photography: Jacques Richez
Design: Jacques Richez
Text: Lucien Massart (introduction); André Maurois; Harry Melville; e.g.
Type: commemoration book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

This book contains an historical resume, suggesting that illustrious men have been determining progress for all of mankind. The book attributes modern society to the invention of electricity. Electronic devices play a major role in everyday life. Jacques Richez (1918) was a gifted designer, draughtsman and experimental photographer. With his skills he added new dimensions to drawing and photography. PROGRES is exceptional in terms of size, color, typography and layout, tactility and shape. The book is richly illustrated with portraits, handwritten notes, line drawings and photo collages on sturdy metallic paper. Richez created subdivisions within the book by using different types of paper: matted or glossy, thick or thin. The result is a luxurious edition with a futuristic touch. The book includes texts from memorable philosophers and scientists. PROGRES was made in commemoration of Marcel Hublou and commisioned by Société anonyme Manufacture Belge de Lampes et de Matériel Électronique.

75 Jahre Brown Boveri 1891-1966
Publisher: Brown Boveri & Cie., Baden
Year of publication: 1966
Binding: hardcover (faux leather; black spine on cream board)
Size: 243 x 240 mm
Number of pages: 290
Number of illustrations: 77 black & white photographs; 147 color
Type of illustrations: archival, historical, product landscape and documentary photography
Printer: Conzett & Huber, Zürich
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Otto Daettwyler; Werkarchiv
Design: Pit Günter
Text: Peter Rinderknecht; Otto Mittler
Type: commemoration book (75 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Swiss electrical engineering company, Brown Boveri & Cie published this comme moration book. The publication contains an historical overview from 1891 until 1966. The content focuses on expansion, development and corporate accomplishments. Both French-language and English-language editions were published. The book is divided into three sections: historical overview, company formation, and the human dimension of the industry. The book contains a wide variety of types of illustrations: from factual graphs to archival images. The cover contains a minimal line illustration. Most of the pictures taken in the factory halls were made with flashlight exposure, resulting in images appear like staged photography, comparable to the suspense tangible in the photographs by the Canadian artist Jeff Wall (1946). Text and image are evenly balanced in a mosaic layout. Brown Boveri & Cie produced a wide range of industrial products: electrical motors, generators, steam and gas turbines, and transformers.

150 Jahre Habig
150 years Habig
150 ans Habig
Publisher: Busche, Dortmund
Year of publication: 1959
Binding: hardcover (satin cloth; spiral; first sheet transparent plastic; one foldout)
Size: 240 x 170 mm
Number of pages: 84
Number of illustrations: 35 black & white photographs; 22 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; aerial photographs; photo collage; documentary and
commercial photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Eick Emsdetten; H. Harz; Aero-lux
Design: E. Zander
Text: Heinrich Haber Jr.
Type: commemoration book (150 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

This little commemoration book was published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the German fabric company Habig. The satin cover is made with a fabric design from the Habig collection: red, yellow and white stripes on a black background. The pages are interspersed by thick matted paper every time in a different pastel color. The bright retouched color photographs reflect the fabrics made in the factory. The book contains many nearly page-filling illustrations. The accompanying texts are often witty and ironic in nature, such as: ‘The pensioner. Looking into the evening does not symbolize the end.’

Kupferhammer Grünthal Vierhundert Jahre deutscher Arbeitskultur [Kupferhammer Grünthal 400 Years
of German Work Culture]
Publisher: C G Röder, Leipzig
Year of publication: 1937
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth; engraved emblem on cover)
Size: 305 x 230 mm
Number of pages: 140
Number of illustrations: 50 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: landscape, portrait and documentary photography
Photography: Albert Renger-Patzsch
Design: C G Röder
Text: Ernst von Laer
Type: commemoration book (400 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

This company book was made for the 400th anniversary of the sheet copper working firm of F A Lange in 1937, and according to Gerry Badger it contains some of Albert Renger-Patzsch’s (1897-1966) finest work. ‘Kupferhammer Grünthal is a sumptuously produced book, demonstrating the full range of Renger-Patzsch’s talents, and revealing an eye that was none too adventurous, but always interesting.’ (Parr; Badger, 2006: 186) The book depicts a workers community as well as landscapes and portraits. The combination of types of photography that Renger-Patzsch applied create an in depth visual documentary study. The style the photographer embraced has been considered a forerunner of the studies Paul Strand made of various European communities in the 1950s and 1960s. See also: Badger, Gerry & Martin Parr (ed.), The Photobook: A History volume 2, Phaidon Press, London: 2006

Henschel Lokomotiven
Publisher: Henschel & Sohn A.G., Kassel
Year of publication: 1931
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth with title and logo in relief; three foldouts)
Size: 300 x 215 mm
Number of pages: 160
Number of illustrations: numerous black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: product and landscape photography
Printer: Röderdruck, Leipzig
Type: promotional catalogue
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Henschel Lokomotiven contains different models of locomotives and engines produced by the firm with the same name. The book provides a grand tour of the world of locomotives built by the company intended for export. The book has the appearance of a collector’s guide. Henschel’s products are sold within Germany as well as internationally; the models of locomotives are ranked by country. Every page contains multiple images: one background image and smaller-framed photographs in front. The layout has a wide variety of style interventions: double spreads, bleeding images, images with duotone color layers, and a bold upper cast typeface. On three foldouts cross sections of locomotives are displayed.

Wetzlar und die Stahlwerke Röchling-Buderus A.G. [Wetzlar and the Steel Mills Röchling-Bunderus A.G.]
Publisher: Röchlingstahl, Wetzlar
Year of publication: 1965
Binding: hardcover (plastic cover; inside work glued to the cover)
Size: 150 x 220 mm
Number of pages: 40
Number of illustrations: 35 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; (urban) landscape and documentary photography
Printer: W. Bechstein, Wetzlar
Type of reproduction: offset
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

This small publi cation, Wetzlar und die Stahl werke Röchling- Buderus A.G., places the steel mills central in the history of Wetzlar by introducing the small town and zooming in on the factory and the shop floor. The hard plastic oblong cover is illustrated with a map of Wetzlar that gives the impression of the steel mills as a tourist attraction. The first spread shows a collage of laborers leaving the factory after work; the background image is a birds-eye view on the factory printed on an olive green stripe pattern. The booklet contains illustrations in a variety of sizes most of which are overlaid with red and yellow color fields. The book concludes with a direct message to the reader: The quality of the product is its selling point; this is what the company explicitly wants to communicate.

Du, Mensch…[You, Creature…]
Publisher: Huber & Co. AG., Frauenfeld
Year of publication: 1962
Binding: paperback
Size: 218 x 225 mm
Number of pages: 47
Number of illustrations: 49 black & white photographs; 1 color
Type of illustrations: product, commercial and documentary photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Jürg Klages; Beringer & Pampaluchi; Conzett & Huber; e.g.
Design: Jürg Klages, Zürich
Text: Willi Fava, Frauenfeld
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Du, Mensch… is a nearly square and thin publi cation about the origins and the usage of different types of leather. Consis tently, images of animals and nature are juxtaposed to those of human beings and leather products. The book consists of anthropological images and product photography, mostly cut out in black & white. Photographer and designer Jürg Klages (1924) used horizontal primary colored bars intersecting with the images. Some of his photographs suggest a tactile quality referring to leather. In a poetic and moralizing manner the reader is narrated from Eskimos to Africans and from the prairie to the desert. The story concludes with the prophetic note that leather is an indispensable product worldwide and essential to human beings now and in the future.

Peugeot Fréres, berceau des entreprises Peugeot [Peugeot Brothers, a cradle of enterprises by Peugeot]
Publisher: Peugeot et Cie, Valentigney
Year of publication: 1953
Binding: soft cover (with folded cardboard jacket)
Size: 280 x 215 mm
Number of pages: 71; 1 fold out
Number of illustrations: 98 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Photography: Robert Doisneau
Design: Jean Vallée
Text: Pierre Mac Orlan (preface)
Type: yearbook
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

With the publication of this yearbook the longstanding French car company Peugeot proclaims international success. However the emphasis of the publication is not about car models. The geographical and historical roots of Peugeot Fréres are the starting point, from there the reader is introduced to the industrial manufacturing of a diversity of products, e.g., steel strips for dressmaking, saws and springs for watch making. The gold pasted label on the cover and the two golden emblems inside gives the book allure. The designer Jean Vallée integrates texts and photographs by way of blue triangle text balloons. The photographs, made by French renowned professional photographer Robert Doisneau (1912-1994), vary in size and position on the page; some overlap in a mosaic-like layout.

Unanimite [Unanimity]
Publisher: Société Anonyme André Citroën, Paris
Year of publication: [1968]
Binding: soft cover (saddle stitched)
Size: 230 x 328 mm
Number of pages: 20
Number of illustrations: 27 color photographs
Type of illustrations: street photography
Printer: Delpire Publicité, Paris
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: William Klein
Type: promotional catalogue
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Citroën - producer of among the most avant-garde car designs ever marketed on a main stream basis - collabo rated regularly with author photographers, which over the years included Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jean-Paul Goude, and Marc Riboud. Following his key publication New York 1954-1955 (1956) William Klein (1928) photographed Unanimite with a snapshot approach. For this catalogue, Klein zoomed in on the futuristic, aerodynamic design elements that made the DS [DS stands for Déesse and means Goddess in French] one of the most unique cars ever made. Klein photographed the gracious French DS model in New York City and by doing so he suggests similar characteristics between the car and the metropolis. Klein’s photographs depict movement as a metaphor of speed. Velocity is reflected in the layout: with diagonally text captions, big tilted images and repeated circles with flag patterns of the export countries. See also: http://bintphotobooks.blogspot.nl/2008/04/william-klein-french-goddess-citron-ds.html

Nestlé, usine de Saint-Menet, Marseille [Nestlé, factory in Saint-Menet, Marseille]
Publisher: Les Presses de Draeger Frères, Montrouge
Year of publication: 1959
Binding: paperback (folded cardboard with pattern in relief)
Size: 285 x 240 mm
Number of pages: 50
Number of illustrations: 22 black & white photographs; 27 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary, landscape and product photography
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Draeger; Nestlé Collection; Roger Viollet
Design: Ferry and Barbot
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

The Swiss nutrition multinational Nestlé published a promotional book on their chocolate and Nescafé factory in Saint-Menet, near Marseille. The publication introduces the picturesque town Saint-Menet, followed by a view on the industrial complexes and concludes with a report on the fabrication of chocolate and Nescafé. The illustrations are varied: black & white exterior and interior photographs, photographs of coffee roasters, machines for rotating and equalizing the chocolate paste, and large piles of Nescafé packages. Some of the photographs are coated with a single primary color. With one exception, all color photographs are manually pasted to the inside work. In addition to the photographs, the book contains two detailed illustrations of the cacao plant and the coffee plant: the natural resource of chocolate and Nescafé.

Renault Yvon and Volkswagenwerk Wolfsburg
Binding: folded cassette (with front window; photographs printed as postcards inside)
Size: 70 x 94 / 70 x 94 mm
Number of pages: 20 / 16
Number of illustrations: 20 / 16
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Type of reproduction: gelatin silver print on picture postcards
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Renault Yvon and Volkswagenwerk Wolfsburg are two of a kind: a pack of, respectively, twenty and sixteen small souvenir postcards that nowadays can be found in large amounts at antiquarian markets. Because these peculiar objects are not photobooks they are an exception to the rule in this exhibition. These miniatures come across as merchandise meant for the tourist branch. The photographic series on the two biggest European car companies are practically the same. The postcards give insight into the operational car industry processes from raw materials to end product: an aerial overview, the machines to paint and presses to weld the body parts, labour on the shop floor, the final product Renault CV4 and VW Bug. A descriptive caption on the backside of each card explains what is depicted on front.

Le Confort au Palais et dans les Appartemens [Comfort in Palais and Appartments]
Publisher: La Société Générale de Fonderie, Paris
Year of publication: 1931
Binding: paperback (hand silk paper; cover with engraved ornaments)
Size: 240 x 320 mm
Number of pages: 92
Number of illustrations: 52 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: photomontage; documentary photography
Printer: SOC, Paris
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Print run: 1000
Photography:[Germaine Krull]
Text: Gosselin Lenotre; Paul Reboux; Marcel Provost; e.g.
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Le Confort au Palais et dans les Appar temens is a luxurious, large-size publi cation by La Société Générale de Fonderie a company in household equipment like bold heating ovens. The first half of the book contains four fiction stories written by Gosselin Lenotre, Paul Reboux, Marcel Provost, and Pierre Mac Orlan. The first page of each short story is juxtaposed with a color drawing pasted on the left page. The stories are printed on hand silk paper. The second half of the book encloses a series of densely printed full bleed photographs with intersecting bracts in between some of the pages. The series of photographs consist of photomontages and close-ups; all photographs are shot in a dramatic modernist style. The photographs are generally ascribed to the German photographer Germaine Krull (1897-1985). Krull lived in Paris between 1926 and 1928, and is known for her seminal industrial photobook Métal (1928).

GEO
Publisher: Géo Foucault & Schweitzer, Paris
Year of publication: [1930s]
Binding: paperback (bound by a cord)
Size: 175 x 112 mm
Number of pages: 210
Number of illustrations: 42 black & white photographs; 62 color
Type of illustrations: product and architecture photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Type: promotional catalogue
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

GEO appears like a no-nonsense booklet about the different types of meat the factory produces. The book consists of two parts; clearly divided by different types of paper. The first part contains detached black & white interior and exterior photographs of the factory. The second part continues with product photography and includes cut-outs in vivid colors. The chunks of meat are displayed within an ornamental frame. Not only ham and sausages are presented, but also cans with paté and pots with pickles are displayed. The book is loosely bound with a cord and two perforations; only the right pages are printed. Either a one centimetre white bar or an ornamental frame consistently formats each of the photographs on these pages throughout the booklet.

Newsprint
Publisher: International Paper Sales Company Inc., Montreal, Canada
Year of publication: 1939
Binding: hardcover
Size: 345 x 268 mm
Number of pages: 74
Number of illustrations: 84 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography; photo collage
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Photography:Margaret Bourke-White; H.F. Kells; Edward J. Herbert; e.g.
Type: promotional book [40 year anniversary]
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Newsprint is a photo book pur sang, compiled of docu mentary photo graphy. This publi cation contains hardly any text. The subtitle explains precisely what the book is about: ‘A book of pictures illustrating the operations in the manufacture of paper on which to print the world’s news’. A series of photographs by famous American woman photographer Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) shows the reader the production process from lumbering to sawmill, from pulp to the final product: newsprint. Besides the production process Bourke-White also focuses on the employees of International Paper Sales Company. The book consists almost entirely of large-size printed photographs: some are full spread, others contain white bars on top or bottom and in some cases overlapping and bleeding images. Bourke-White used high contrast black & white photography and emphasized in her pictures both the force of the elements of nature with the force of man-made machines.

Les Nouvelles Messageries de la Presse Parisienne [The New Message from Presse Parisienne]
Publisher: N.M.P.P., Paris
Year of publication: 1960
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth)
Size: 320 x 245 mm
Number of pages: 62
Number of illustrations: 51 black & white photographs; 5 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Draeger Frères, Montrouge
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Édouard Boubat
Design: Pierre Faucheux
Text: Antoine Blondin
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

On first impression, the publication of Presse Parisienne looks, in terms of size, cover and layout, like a children’s book: colorful and set in a large typeface. However, this is illusionary. The main part of the book is about the daily distribution of a newspaper. With a daily press run of over three million copies, it needed a large distribution network. The visual narrative in Les Nouvelles Messageries de la Presse Parisienne is chronological and shows the production of Presse Parisienne as if it were a life cycle with time as its only enemy. The book design echoes the dynamic of a venturous company, resulting in a variety of image sizes, paper and little text. Sheets of mechanical wood paper emphasize the physical aspect of the production of a newspaper. In assigning the Paris based photographer Édouard Boubat (1923-1999), Presse Parisienne choose to depict the newspaper in a humanist manner. Boubat is fitting in the tradition of postwar humanist photography. Boubat’s photos show the daily newspaper as a communication tool and how Presse Parisienne is part of daily life.

So Entsteht ein Auto [The Making of a Car]
Publisher: Bücherei der Adlerwerke, Frankfurt
Year of publication: 1930
Binding: paperback (stitched; cover with relief)
Size: 355 x 265 mm
Number of pages: 109
Number of illustrations: 49 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: photomontage; product photography
Printer: Brönner’s Druckerei, Frankfurt
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Photography: Paul Wolff
Design: Hans Breidenstein
Text: Paul G. Ehrhardt
Type: commemoration book (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

On occasion of the 50th anniversary of automobile manufacturer Adlerwerke the company published So Entsteht ein Auto. This title is likely the first industrial company book made by photographer Paul Wolff's (1887-1951), who studied medicine and was a pioneer in 35 mm color photography and the use of the Leica camera. This paperback edition showcased Adlerwerke’s car production in a striking Art Deco design. Most of the illustrations are photomontages. The text is printed in brown on beige paper, which contrasts effectively with the cold deep black of the images. The book is divided in six chapters and depicts historical, contemporary and future production techniques.

My trip to “Caterpillar”
Publisher: Tractor Co. Peoria, Illinois
Year of publication: [1940s]
Binding: hardcover (bound by a cord and two perforations; faux leather cover)
Size: 240 x 330 mm
Number of pages: 18
Number of illustrations: 2 black & white photographs; 18 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; group portrait (gelatin siver print)
Type: commemoration book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

My trip to “Cater pillar” is a personal souvenir to B.F. Gephart whose name is in gold relief print on the cover. The cover is similar to the American high school yearbooks mentioned in The Photobook: A History volume two (2006) by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger. The book design appears as an old-fashioned family album: in size; full-padded whitewashed plastic cover with shiny yellow cord; glassine interleaving paper and text balloons accompanying each image. Groups who visited the world’s largest manufacturer of diesel engines, tractors and road machinery began their tour with a group portrait and each visitor was able to take this personal gift home at the end of the day. The final pages are left blank for personal notes, like in a diary. The photographs are heavily retouched with bright colors and placed in pairs in a white frame on light blue paper.

L’uomo in fabbrica [Man in factory]
Publisher: Gruppo Fiat, Turin
Year of publication: 1971
Binding: hardcover (with paper dust jacket)
Size: 280 x 158 mm
Number of pages: 96
Number of illustrations: 92 black & white photographs; 12 color
Type of illustrations: documentary
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Aldo Moisio; Filiberto Rota; Enzo Isaia; e.g.
Text: Umberto Agnelli
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

In the publication L’uomo in fabbrica the automobile manufacturer Fiat expresses its affinity with its employees working on the shop floor, its focus on the importance of human workforce in factory work. A technical drawing of the Fiat 128 model is printed on the dust jacket. After a short introduction the book contains only photographs. A compilation of thumbnails, bleeding images and large images bordered with white bars show the reader a day at work in the factory. The variety in image size and the mixture of black & white and color photographs generate a dynamic flow in the visual narrative. The story begins with the employees going to work and it ends when they leave the Fiat complex; in addition, the storyline shows the fabrication of the Fiat 128. Captain of industry of the Fiat Group, Umberto Agnelli, is portrayed on the shop floor and wrote an introductory text.

Revolution im Unsichtbaren [Invisible Revolution]
Publisher: Econ-Verlag GMBH, Düsseldorf
Year of publication: 1963
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth with engraved title)
Size: 305 x 260 mm
Number of pages: 132
Number of illustrations: 26 black & white photographs; 54 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; abstract and documentary photography
Printer: H. Osterwald, Hannover
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Rudi Angenendt; Horst H. Baumann; Heinz Bitter; e.g.
Design: Wolf D. Zimmermann
Text: Friedrich Sieburg
Type: commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

The company Bayer AG was established in 1863 and originally manufactured dyestuffs, a substance for staining and coloring fabrics. In 1925 it evolved into the consolidation of Germany’s chemical industries known as IG Farben. Bayer AG first developed pharmaceuticals, dyes, acetates, fibres, insecticides, and other chemicals and, most of all, is it renowned for being the originator and first marketer of aspirin (1899). Revolution im Unsichtbaren was published on the occasion of Bayer AG’s 100th anniversary and contains full bleeding bright silver-coated images, somewhat psychedelic in nature, that display the chemical development of dyestuffs. With close-ups, little depth of field and motion blur, the visual narrative is abstract and dynamic.

“Night Trick” on the Norfolk and Western Railway
Publisher: Norfolk and Western Railway, Roanoke, Virginia
Year of publication: 1957
Binding: paperback
Size: 215 x 278 mm
Number of pages: 16
Number of illustrations: 16 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: landscape and documentary photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Ogle Winston Link
Text: Norfolk and Western Railway
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

‘This book, made for the Norfolk and Western Railway in Virginia, might not be large, but many of O. Winston Link’s (1914-2001) classic images are in there, and given fine reproduction. Link, who is formulating a vision of the United States as conservative and as precisely calculated as that of Norman Rockwell, generally creates a foreground tableau and has a train, steam blowing behind, rushing by in the background. [...] Link’s vision is, of course, a fabrication, a very persuasive one based on the idea of community. He shows the United States going about its business and leisure, keeping the commercial, social and cultural life of the country flowing as it should.’ From: Badger, Gerry & Martin Parr (ed.), The Photobook: A History volume 2, Phaidon Press, London: 2006, pp.188-189

IGNIS 25
Publisher: Rizzoli Editore, Milan
Year of publication: 1969
Binding: hardcover (paper dust jacket; logo engraved on cover)
Size: 290 x 210 mm
Number of pages: 172
Number of illustrations: 136 black & white photographs; 61 color
Type of illustrations: landscape, architectural, reportage and product photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Publifoto; Renato Padovan; Faoro and Tediosi archive
Design: Enzo Avesani
Text: Giuseppe Tanzi (ed.)
Type: commemoration book (25 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

The Italian company in household equip ment, Ignis, published a photo book on the occasion of its 25th anni versary. The book has a two-part division: the first part is a historical overview in text and graphs and the second part is a visual reportage on the company. The latter is again divided in three sections: photographs of the industry, of the commercial enterprise, and a section on social life. All the color images are full-bleed spreads. The photographs that are taken inside the factory are shot with flashlight. The effect is images appearing to be staged. Because all the employers wear blue overalls and work along the assembly line the repetitive mise-en-scene in the photographs has a theatrical quality.

Facom
Publisher: Draeger Frères, Montrouge
Year of publication: 1960
Binding: paperback (spiral binding; sections divided by numbered cardboard tabs)
Size: 268 x 235 mm
Number of pages: 150
Number of illustrations: numerous black & white photographs; 9 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; product and documentary photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Mazo, St-Martin; Photocrom, Buenos-Aires
Design: Service Artistique Draeger Frères, Montrouge
Text: Facom
Type: promotional catalogue
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Facom is a company in mechanical gear; the catalogue depicts many different types of wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, and other hand tools. Most of the product photography is printed on black & white coated with a red tone, some of the interior photography is in the same style. For example, the store is depicted in black & white with only a cupboard in red. Another notable aspect of the design is the images along the cardboard tabs are printed as spreads, in black & white on the left page and in color on the right page.

Im Kraftfeld von Rüsselsheim [In the Force Field of Rüsselsheim]
Publisher: Knorr und Hirth, München
Year of publication: 1940
Binding: hardcover (printed linen cloth and faux leather spine; with dust cover)
Size: 220 x 210 mm
Number of pages: 219
Number of illustrations: 80 color photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography
Printer: Hauserpresse Hans Schaefer, Frankfurt
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Paul Wolff
Design and Idea: Carl T. Wiskott
Text: Heinrich Hauser
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Im Kraftfeld von Rüssels heim was published during World War II. It took two years to finalize its produc tion, for which the publisher expressed pride on the jacket text. One of the reasons for this euphoria is that the text is written according to Nazi ideology. Another reason was the fact that Im Kraftfeld von Rüsselsheim is the first book with color reproductions of 35 mm negative film. Dr. Paul Wolff (1887-1951) used his preferred Leica camera in twelve different factories to record the industrialization of Rüsselsheim, among them: a rayon factory, a screw factory, and steel mills. Most of the factories manufactured products for the biggest car company of its time in Europe: Opel. The photo series depict mainly factory workers on the shop floor working with metal, from welding to polishing.

Omaggio Al Cappello [A Tribute to the Hat]
Publisher: Arti Grafiche Amilcare Pizzi, Milan
Year of publication: 1957
Binding: hardcover (linen cloth with embossed title; illustrated dust jacket)
Size: 292 x 255 mm
Number of pages: 150
Number of illustrations: 79 black & white photographs; 1 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; historical and portrait photography
Printer: Arti Grafische Amilcare Pizzi, Milan
Type of reproduction: offset
Text: Mario Carrieri; Giuseppe Trevisani; Massimo Vignelli (eds.)
Type: commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

The 100th year anniversary of the Borsalino company resulted in a bulky tribute to headdress. The publication is composed of pictures, photography and reproductions of paintings which makes it a versatile design. The dust jacket is printed on two sides: on the outside the assemblage of a hat is depicted, and hidden on the inside flaps is a photograph of the apartments of employees. The inside work is compiled of a series of reproductions of famous paintings that show people with hats. These reproductions are pasted on black pages. The second section in the book contains various humorous and fashion illustrations, with the hat as central topic. The third section displays full-page portraits of employers with a short but quite a personal history introducing each person. Omaggio Al Cappello conveys to the reader the company’s fascination for and affection with the (making of the) Italy’s famous headdress.

Die Maggi Werke [The Maggi Works]
Publisher: Maggi Gesellschaft MBH, Berlin
Year of publication: [1925]
Binding: paperback (folded binding with cord)
Size: 205 x 295 mm
Number of pages: 40
Number of illustrations: 41 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Design: H. Schirmer, Berlin
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Die Maggi Werke is a publi cation on Germany’s largest food industry business: Maggi. The straight forward Art Deco book design is similar to the design of Dutch artist magazine Wendingen [1918-1932] from the same style period. The page layout and typography in this oblong publication is more prominent than the greyish photographs about the people working in the factory and the agriculture. Depicted on the photographs are the men returning from harvest, long lines of women wearing aprons and headscarves preparing cauliflower and kettles with bouillon. Except for two pages, every page contains one medium size photograph that is always off-centre. With a large typeface and decorating strips in silver along the outer edge of the pages, black strips around the photographs and blue strips along the page seam create a firm and dated Art Deco layout.

Les Cathedrales du Vin [The Cathedrals of Wine]
Publisher: Sainrapt et Brice, Paris
Year of publication: 1937
Binding: paperback
Size: 310 x 237 mm
Number of pages: 20
Number of illustrations: 11 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography
Printer: Jacques Bazaine, Paris
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Print run: 3100 (numbered)
Photography: André Kertesz
Text: Pierre Hamp
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Les Cathedrales du Vin is a publication on the winery Sainrapt et Brice in Paris. The large format paperback contains eleven photographs made by the Hungarian master photographer André Kertesz (1894-1985). A semi-transparent glassine interleaving paper with explanatory captions covers each photograph. The black & white illustrations have a dense quality with high contrast due to the photogravure reproduction. Kertesz captured the winery with serenity as if it were a cathedral. The dimly lit chambers are empty with deep down anonymous individuals at work. From different points of view, some frontal and some from a high or low perspective, Kertesz emphasizes the height of the winery’s interior.

Práce Je Živá [Work is Living]
Publisher: Ceská Grafická, Prague
Year of publication: 1945
Binding: hardcover (half brown cloth; photographic dust jacket).
Size: 340 x 255 mm
Number of pages: 180
Number of illustrations: 173 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography
Type of reproduction: photogravure
Photography: Vladimir Hipman
Type: promotional book
Collection: Bart Sorgedrager, Amsterdam

Práce Je Živá is a tribute to the workforce of Czecho slovakia. This costly and volu minous
publi cation pays tribute to the industrial era and its heroic workers. The Czech photographer Vladimir Hipman was a prominent figure in the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement in Eastern Europe. In style and propagation of work ethos Práce Je Živá is comparable to Albert Renger-Patzsch’s Eisen und Stahl (1931) and Lewis W. Hine’s Men at work (1932). The rich photogravures display a dramatic view on industrial work published in this scarce post-war classic.


Forthcoming Spring 2015 The Chinese Photobook Curated by Martin Parr and WassinkLundgren Photography

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In the last decade there has been a major reappraisal of the role and status of the photobook within the history of photography. Revisionist histories have added enormously to our understanding of the medium’s culture, particularly in places that are often marginalized, such as Latin America and Africa. However, until now, only three Chinese photobooks have made it onto historians’ short lists.

Yet China has a fascinating history of photobook publishing, and Aperture’s exhibition The Chinese Photobook will reveal for the first time the richness and diversity of this heritage. Divided into six historical sections, it will delight and engage photobook enthusiasts with the excitement of discovery. Based on a collection compiled by Martin Parr and Beijing- and London-based Dutch photographer teamWassinkLundgrenThe Chinese Photobook embodies an unprecedented amount of research and scholarship, and includes accompanying texts and individual title descriptions by Raymond Lum, Stephanie Tung, and Gu Zheng.
The Chinese Photobook will also reveal much about China itself, and the country’s dramatic twists and turns during the last 150 years.
Martin Parr is a key figure in the world of photography, recognized as a brilliant satirist of contemporary life. Author of over thirty photography books, his photographs have been collected by museums worldwide, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Tate Modern, London. Parr is a member of Magnum Photos.
WassinkLundgren is a collaboration between Dutch artists Thijs groot Wassink and Ruben Lundgren. Their work together includes book projects, exhibitions, and photography commissions. They met while studying at the Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands and have worked together since 2005. They have received several awards, including the Dutch Doc Award and Foto Kees Scherer Prijs for best photobook, and have been nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award.
Contents:
Includes approximately fifty-five books (with an average of eight to ten books in each of the six sections) and eighty framed portfolio pages, as well as video slideshows that will allow the viewer to “flip” through the more delicate books that must be presented in vitrines. Less rare books will be available for handling on a viewing table. In addition, the exhibitor will receive high-res tear-sheet files, which will be produced by the venue as vinyl blowups.
Related Publication:
The Chinese Photobook
Edited by Martin Parr and WassinkLundgren
11 3⁄4 x 12 7⁄8 in. (29.8 x 32.7 cm)
456 pages, 600 four-color images
Hardcover with jacket
Spring 2015
See also 

Forthcoming Spring 2014 Book about Chinese Photobooks Martin Parr WassinkLundgren Photography




La Chine à terre et en ballon; reproduction de 272 photographies, exécutées par des officiers du génie du corps expéditionnaire et groupées sur 42 [i.e. 41] planches et phototypie avec légendes explicatives (1902)


1900年,八国联军中的法军,在北京和天津首次使用了热气球进行侦查,并留下一批航拍的照片。法国军队回国后,为了纪念他们的这次远征,从这些航拍照片中挑选了一部分,结合一部分在陆地拍摄的照片,1902年小范围的出版了一本《LA CHINE A TERRE ET EN BALLON》,这本书有个包袱皮式的封套,打开后是目录和说明文字,最后是散页形式的内页,共41页。这本书的内容和视角很少见,因此很珍贵,我曾经有四篇从这本书延伸出来的博文:


这本书即使在欧美也不好找,我目前已知香港有位研究中国早期铁路史的藏家有一本,香港某书店有一本重新装钉的,国内某拍卖公司卖过一本缺两页的,和另外三套完整的。此书售价都很贵,在1.6-2.5万元之间。

全书26*34.5cm。










China As She Is:
A Comprehensive Album 
This auction features China As She Is: A Comprehensive Album , published in 1934 in Shanghai, China. The book provides an extensive look at prewar China. There are sections on 28 provinces of China (some provinces are grouped together; there are 23 separate chapters for the 28 provinces). Each chapter begins with one page of text giving general information about the province and its major cities followed by black & white photos of industry, agriculture, buildings, historic and religious landmarks, lakes and other natural features. The text is in English and Chinese.


The book begins with a two-page map of china followed by 20 full page color photos (protected by tissue guards). There are 474 pages plus ten foldout statistical charts (1 is creased at the edge, the others are flat). Title page for each chapter has a pasted down color photo on it (see photo). There are photographic endpapers (b&w photo of dragons carved on a wall).

China As She Is was published by Liang You Printing & Publishing Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China, in 1934 and is a second impression. L.T. Wu was the editor-in-chief and the book was photographed by T. S. Leung, Y.H. Chang, P. Auyoung, W. Szeto








Pictorial Review of the Sino-Japanese Conflict 1932


The Shanghai Trouble = 上海事變寫眞帖 (Shanghai Incident Photo Album) Paperback – January 1, 1932


"Chairman Mao is the red sun of our hearts" - scarce illustrated album from the early period of Cultural Revolution published in July 1967 by The "People's Fine Arts Publishing House" for The "Chinese Revolution Photographic Society". The album contains 68 plates with black & white historical pictures & many affixed color photographs signed by Zhong Guo, Ge Ming, She Ying, Xie Hui, Bian Ji.















China.

Beijing: China Album Editing Commit tee, 1959. First Edition. Large folio. One of the greatest propaganda books ever published, with over 500 illustrations, many photographic and printed in rich gravure, with color images, and non-photographic art plates, either tipped or mounted in. Published to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. No edition size is indicated. A beautiful copy in satin boards with inset red Chinese characters, original acetate overlay, publisher's box.





Photographic Works Ruud van Empel Photography

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Ruud van Empel

15 februari t/m 8 juni 2014
After a successful world tour, the work of artist Ruud van Empel is now to be exhibited for the first time in Brabant: thirty superb photographic works including four new ones from 2013 and an immense wall filling print featuring Van Empel's preliminary sketches. Eleven of the displayed photographic works have never previously been seen in the Netherlands.
Ruud van Empel (Breda 1958) is one of the most extraordinary artists of the moment. He composes spectacular digital photo collages using a technique he developed himself. We see people - often children - and landscapes in an aura of innocence and vulnerability. Beauty and identity are also important themes in his work. Van Empel's works seem like photos but with closer examination a feeling arises that there is more going on than meets the eye: unsurprisingly as these are self-constructed wonder worlds. He first makes pencil sketches of the scene he has in mind and then photographs models in his studio. Finally, at the computer - using hundreds of loose details and with the greatest precision - he designs a completely new picture. Details of the original models appear only as fragments.

Van Empels werk is mooi. Te mooi
Door  DONDERDAG 27 MAART 2014 
Hij heeft bepaald niet te klagen over aandacht. De Bredase fotograaf Ruud van Empel (1958) viert de komende maanden met een overzicht in het Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch de afsluiting van een succesvolle internationale tournee. Zijn werk gaat als warme broodjes over de toonbank bij internationale galeries, veilinghuizen en op beurzen.
Van Empel is opgeleid als grafisch vormgever. In een tijd dat het modernistische principe van less is more in de kunst de toon aangeeft, ontwikkelt hij zich in tegenovergestelde richting: kitsch met een knipoog. Geen wonder dat hij zich als een vis in het water voelt als stilist bij de jeugdserie van Theo & Thea die tussen 1985 en 1989 heel Nederland aan de buis kluistert.
Maar de autonome kunst trekt, en vooral de digitale techniek die eind jaren tachtig in de kinderschoenen staat. Van Empels eerste schreden op dit pad worden gevormd door een nog steeds prachtige, aan surrealistische collages herinnerende serie The Office(vanaf 1995). In Den Bosch zijn twee ‘bureaus’ uit deze serie te zien: de ene, uit 2001, toont een man, verzwolgen door camera’s en lampen. De andere, uit hetzelfde jaar, toont een man, omgeven door eindeloze rijen van knopen in alle kleuren en maten. Beide mannen zijn gekleed in tot in de puntjes verzorgde kostuums. Beide foto’s zijn behalve mooi ook ademstokkend. De geënsceneerde schoonheid waarmee de mannen zijn omringd, is als een strop die steeds strakker wordt getrokken.
Die strop is sindsdien het uitgangspunt voor Van Empel. Het is zijn handelsmerk geworden, dat – zo blijkt op de tentoonstelling in Den Bosch – inmiddels behoorlijk wat slijtageplekken vertoont. In wisselende series als Moon, World, of Brothers and Sisters voert Van Empel een jeugdland ten tonele waar nimfachtige jongens en meisjes vaak in jarenvijftigkleding tussen groen struweel staan of liggen. Soms drijven ze in een vijver. Zowel de kleren als de kinderen zelf zijn onwerkelijk mooi en schoon. Geen pukkel ontsiert een wang, geen blauwe plek een blote arm. Dat kan ook niet anders, want alles – van wenkbrauw tot onderlip – komt uit de digitale plak- en knipdoos. Iedere gestalte is opgebouwd uit duizenden fragmenten van foto’s. Smelten we bij de aanblik van grote reeënogen? Dan neemt Van Empel de ogen van de één en plaatst die in het hoofd van de ander. Verdwijnen we in oceanisch blauwe irissen? Dan verandert Van Empel de kleur van de ogen van een jong meisje in ijl blauw, even blauw als het water van de vijver waarin het meisje zwemt.
De overduidelijke kunstmatigheid van de afbeelding veroorzaakt een licht schurend gevoel bij de kijker. Want natuurlijk weten we beter en is de kindertijd in werkelijkheid helemaal niet zo perfect. Nieuw is die notie niet – zeker niet in de kunst. Verontrustend is ze evenmin. Daarvoor zijn de fotowerken te esthetisch en is hun idioom te voor de hand liggend. Nee, als dit overzicht iets duidelijk maakt, dan is het dat Van Empel hard toe is aan een moedige stap het onbekende tegemoet.


2703kunempel2.jpg



Zondag volgens Ruud van Empel: Sunday #4, 2012, 70×50 cm.
 
Courtesy: Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam


Fabriek Velsen. Koninklijke Papierfabrieken Van Gelder Zonen Studio Arbeiderspers Photomontage & What we make Graphic Industries NL Company Photography

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'Studio Arbeiderspers'

Fotoboek - Koninklijke papierfabrieken Van Gelder Zonen n.v., ca, 1965


Volledige titel: Fabriek Velsen. Koninklijke Papierfabrieken Van Gelder Zonen n.v., haar plaats in de Nederlandse papierindustrie 

Formaat 30 x 21 cm., 32 pag. met 34 illustraties van niet met name genoemde fotografen 
Lay-out en ontwerp: Studio Arbeiderspers. 

Uitgave: Koninklijke papierfabrieken Van Gelder Zonen, ca, 1965 
Genaaid met papieren omslag waarop fotomontage 








On Show (Think 4)
Publisher: Howard Paper Smith, Northhampton (UK)
Year of publication: 2008
Binding: hard bound cover
Size: 245 x 207 mm
Number of pages: 128
Number of illustrations: 25 black & white photography; 50 color
Type of illustrations: amateur photography
Provenance: private collection Erik Kessels, Amsterdam
Type of reproduction: offset (225 line screen)
Print run: 1200
Printer: St Ives Westerham Press
Design: Browns
Editor documentation: Erik Kessels, Amsterdam
Text: Adrian Shaughnessy (preface/interview); Davy Jones (interview)
Type: sample book
Collection: Mirelle Thijsen/IPhoR, Amsterdam

On show (2008) is composed by advertising consultant, publisher and collector of found photography Erik Kessels (1966). He is creative director of advertising agency KesselsKramer in Amsterdam/London which has made name with unorthodox campaigns in which authenticity and directness are in high esteem, often using found photographs of anonymous photographers, mostly amateur photography. On Show has the looks of a photo album, complete with blank picture frames,stock pages and show bags. The publication, compiled of previously unpublished amateur pictures from the private collection of Kessels, was created in the context of the Howard Smith Paper lectures series, for which, among others, Paul Graham (1956) and Lawrence Weiner (1942) have been invited.

TIMELESS, Job Parilux
Publisher: Papierfabrik Scheuffelen GmbH, Lenningen/Jb Scheuffelen S.A. Paris/G.P., Andelst
Year of publication: 2001
Binding: hard bound cover (paperbound, with three ribbons (purple, yellow, red), book title in
varnish)
Size: 320 x235 mm
Number of pages: 76
Number of illustrations: 32 black & white photography; 32 color
Type of illustrations: studio portraits; amateur photography; family photography
Type of reproduction: duotone and four color offset
Printer: Knijnenberg; Calf & Meischke, Amsterdam
Photographer: Anton Beeke; portraits of children from family albums of the former fashion models
Design: Studio Anton Beeke (Paulina Matusiak)
Editor: Anton Beeke (concept and production); Rémy Gass
Text: Mariette Haveman; France Billand (editing)
Type: sample book
Collection: Jan Wingender Collection, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

TIMELESS (2001) is printed on the slick Job Parilux, the trademark of Scheuffelen paper factory. This paper type is ideal for showing the ultimate possibilities of duotone-technique in a unique shade of black and grey tones. Thus a publication arose, based on a concept by Anton Beeke (1940), as a sample of high-quality printing technique. For the publication a number of portraits of former Dutch models from the 1960s are selected, created by Beeke in London, Paris and Amsterdam. On a left page a small family album picture from the childhood of the model, is consistently printed in twocolor printing, to emphasize the difference in Zeitgeist and in the perception of time.

A meeting on holiday
Publisher: NEROC’VGM, Amsterdam
Year of publication: 2004
Binding: paperbound carton postcards perforated. In transparent plastic sleeve
Size: 208 x 148 mm
Number of pages: 56
Number of illustrations: 48 color
Type of illustration: found photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Print run: 1000
Printer: NEROC’VGM, Amsterdam
Photography: Joachim Schmid
Editor: Erik Kessels; Joachim Schmid
Design: Kesselskramer, Amsterdam
Text: KesselsKramer, Amsterdam
Type: promotional book
Collection: Mirelle Thijsen/IPhoR, Amsterdam

‘Inspired by the work NEROC’VGM does for the production of travel brochures […], Joachim [Schmid (1955)] held his meeting at various holiday resorts around the world. This is a virtual place called Postcard land, where the sun always shines, the holiday-makers always smile and the sea and pools are the brightest of blues. Joachim sifted through thousands of images and carefully arranged the ones in this meetings book, to create postcard poetry of tourist expectations’. From: Anonymous [KesselsKramer], Joachim Schmid. A meeting on holiday (meetings # 1), Amsterdam 2003.

De kracht van kleur
Publisher: ModoVanGelder, Amsterdam
Year of publication: 2002
Binding: hard cover
Size: 215 x 175 mm
Number of pages: 72
Number of illustrations: 35 color
Type of illustrations: travel photography; documentary photography
Type of reproduction: iris print
Print run: 1000
Printer: Ando BV, Den Haag; Kempers BV, Aalten; Slinger BV, Alkmaar, a.o.
Photography: Marnix Goossens; Vivianne Sassen; Martine Stig; Raimond Wouda; Henk Wildschut e.g.
Design: solar initiative, Amsterdam
Editor: Colin Huizing
Text: Jos Vlak, Voorschoten
Type: promotional book
Collection: Mirelle Thijsen/IPhoR, Amsterdam

Stemming from the idea of passion for paper and printing, it is interesting to show the ultimate capabilities of the printing industry in the field of reproduction onto glossy paper and other specific paper types. De kracht van kleur [The power of color] (2002) is a striking example of this strategy and is in line with a tradition of graphic production companies in the field of producing and initiating prestigious printing, company photobooks in particular.

Kunstofprikkels Proost Prikkels 328
Publisher: Proost & Brandt NV, Amsterdam/Putten
Year of publication: 1972
Number of pages: 64
Number of illustrations: 38 black & white photographs; 4 color
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile
Size: 98 x 191mm
Binding: paperback, paperbound
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Aart Klein
Design: [Charles Jongejans]
Text: The Prikkel redaction [Wim Alings]
Type: goodwill
Collection: Jan Wingender Collection, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Following In the footsteps of Proost Prikkels 322 (March 1971) appeared in april 1972, in landscape format this time, Kunstofprikkels Proost Prikkels 328. [Synthetic Incentives Proost Incentives 328] This booklet with a photo reportage by Aart Klein (1909-2001), is packaged in a mini grip bag of white polyethylene. The company photo booklet is interleaved with transparent Proflex polyethylene sheets. As the demand for and use of paper in the packaging industry is subject to change, the paper factory decided in the early 1970s to start in Putten with the production of polyethylene, a flexible and transparent material used for making bags, foil and a container with the perpetual closure: the mini grip. An important aspect in those years, in which the attention to environmental pollution rose, was that polyethylene is a biodegradable product.

Proost Prikkels 322
Publisher: Proost & Brandt NV, Amster dam/ Putten
Year of publication: 1971
Number of pages: 72
Number of illustrations: 51 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: photo reportage; company profile
Size: 98 x 191mm
Binding: paperback, paperbound
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Hans Samson
Design: [Charles Jongejans]
Text: The Prikkel redaction [Wim Alings]
Type: goodwill
Collection: Jan Wingender Collection, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Proost Prikkels 322 [Proost Incentives], above all, is about the human factor and the added value of bookbinding. Photographs of Hans Samson (1939) illustrate the production line. Text columns describe the production process and can be considered as an ongoing story or could be read as captions for the photo reportage. The text is put in red Sans Serif on blue Prospecta paper, parallel to the pictures.

HOUSE Kwadraat-blad nr. 33
Year of publication: 1971
Publisher: Steendrukkerij de Jong & Co, Hilversum
Binding: paperback, glewed
Size: 250 x 250 mm
Number of pages: 52
Number of illustrations: 25 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography (series on a collapsed barn)
Type of reproduction: offset
Printer: Steendrukkerij de Jong & Co, Hilversum
Text: Pieter Brattinga
Photography: Les Levine
Design: Pieter Brattinga
Type: goodwill
Collection: Mirelle Thijsen/IPhoR, Amsterdam

The most remarkable quadrat print is a quadrilingual sober edition based on an idea by the American conceptual artist/sculptor Les Levine (1935). Each photograph in HOUSE. quadrat print No. 33 (1971) is a work plan for a sculpture or monument. The reader is invited to accomplish one of the ‘monuments’ on a scale that is proportional to the space available to him/her. And when he/she has completed the monument, or has had enough, the person is requested to send photographs of it to the artist. Flanked by a raven black left page, which now flinches and then extends into a vertical strip on the right page, documentary photographs loom of a collapsed barn, in a rugged landscape along a country road, against the backdrop of a mountain slope. As in a flipbook the camera is increasingly zooming in on details of the ruin.

Alphabet, Kwadraat-blad nr. 28
Year of publication: 1970
Publisher: Steendrukkerij de Jong & Co, Hilversum
Binding: loose leafe in stiff wrappers with fold out sleeve, transparent foil
Size: 250 x 250 mm
Number of pages: 26 and 4 leaves
Number of illustrations: 80 square black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: nude photography
Type of reproduction: lithography
Printer: Steendrukkerij de Jong & Co, Hilversum
Photography: Geert Kooiman; Ed van der Elsken
Design: Anthon Beeke; Anna Beeke (production)
Text: Pieter Brattinga
Language: Dutch-English-French-German
Type: ‘quadrat print’/PR instrument
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Each ‘quadrat print’ is part of a series of experimental prints in graphic design, art, literature, architecture and music. Alphabet, Quadrat print No. 28 (1970), by far the best known quadrat print, is a model of the women's emancipation and sexual freedom acquired in the 1960s. It consists of a wallet containing free-standing photographs from letters of the alphabet and loose punctuation marks printed on thirty single sheets. Starting point of the series of photographs was the capitals version of Baskerville. Arranged female bodies of women and children are forming typographically correct 26 letters of the alphabet, and four punctuations in Baskerville Old Face Font The series is directed by Anthon Beeke (1940) and photographed by Geert Kooiman. The reportage is made by Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990). In blocks of 16, his pictures are put together seamlessly on the folding pages on the inside of the cover.

De snelbinder Proostprikkels 286
Year of publication: 1965
Publisher: Proost & Brandt NV, Amsterdam
Size: 214 x 134mm
Binding: hard bound
Number of pages: 32 (photo quire)
Number of illustrations: 14 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile
Photography: Ad Windig; Hans Samson (cover)
Design: Pieter Groot
Text: Bert Schierbeek
Type: sample book
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

De snelbinder Proostprikkels 286 [The bike carrier strap Proost Incentives 286] is for more than three quarters a paper sample book, with the size of a hefty paperback. Cover and flyleafs are made of white pressed bookbinders material. The sleeve is made of corrugated cardboard. The text is put out of the Grotesk. The book appears in April 1965 and contains a quire with photographs by Ad Windig (1912-1996) on glossy paper. The mechanical process of bookbinding is based on detailed pictures of the Sheridan – a modern fast-running binding machine built in the United States.

Drievel in het wapen
Publisher: NV Berghuizer Papierfabriek VH B. Cramer, Wapenveld
Year of publication: 1961
Binding: hard bound cover
Size: 280 x 210 mm
Number of pages: 64
Number of photographs: 53 black & white photographs; 4 color
Type of illustrations: company profile (from raw material tot finished product)
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Text: Bert Schierbeek
Photography: Ad Windig
Design: Alexander Verberne
Text: Bert Schierbeek
Type: commemoration book
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Writer-poet Bert Schierbeek (1918-1996) wrote texts for three company photobooks, respectively commissioned by a textile manufacturer, a paper mill and the Dutch association to promote the interests of booksellers. Both in De draad van het verhaal [The threat of the story] (1960), Drievel in het wapen [Three sheets in the coat of arms] (1961) as taal & teken [language and signal] (1965) he fits the metaphor, an important style means of post-war poetry. Perhaps inspired by German-language photo books which came about on the basis of cooperation between an experimental poet and photographer, as Im Ruhrgebiet (1958), but in any case inspired on the letterhead of the GKf and that of its members, Bert Schierbeek had put his contributions in company photobooks only in a Garamond (italic).

De letter op straat
Year of publication: 1956
Publisher: Drukkerij Meijer, Wormerveer
Binding: paperback, sewed
Size: 298 x 234 mm
Number of pages: 16
Number of illustrations: 40 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: street photography; photo reportage
Type of reproduction: offset
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV, Wormerveer en Amsterdam
Text: Jan Elburg
Photography: Violette Cornelius
Design: Jurriaan Schrofer
Text: Jan Elburg
Type: Christmas and New Year’s gift
Collection: the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

A particularly talented occasional team has composed De letter op straat [The letter in the street] (1956). An experimental text is written by poet/writer Jan Elburg (1919-1992), member of De Vijftigers [The Fiftiers] movement, the documentary photography is by Violette Cornelius (1919- 2000) and the innovative design by Jurriaan Schrofer (1926-1990). This one-off publication counts only 16 pages and is the one photobook that printer Meijer in Wormerveer has self-published as a new year's gift. As counterplay of advertising texts and signage in the streets, photographed by Cornelius as part of modern life in the metropolis, Elburg wrote himself advertising slogans in the form of a game on language and concepts. The text, put in a variety of contemporary fonts and colors, acts as a counterpoint to the photographic visual language, which in style and quality is comparable to that of Walker Evans and Helen Levitt.

Over fotografie (Kerstnummer Drukkersweekblad)
Publisher: Drukkerij Meijer NV, Wormer veer/fotogroep GKf, Amsterdam
Year of publication: 1950
Binding: re-printed section in paperback, with cord bind
Size: 320 x 247 mm
Number of pages: 12
Number of photographs: 18 black & white photographs; 4 color
Type of illustrations: humanist photography
Type of reproduction: offset
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Photography: Emmy Andriesse, Ed van der Elsken a.o.
Design: Charles A. Jongejans
Text: Anonymous [members photographers union GKf]
Type: re-print promotional brochure
Collection: Jan Wingender Collection, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

In terms of editorial and typographic contribution, the appendixes of the Kerstnummer Drukkersweekblad
[Christmas issue Printer’s weekly] in 1950 were for the first time entirely delivered by graphic designers and
photographers, in short by ‘outsiders’. All of them were united in the professional artists association GKf. A reprint of the photo section from this Christmas issue of the Printer's weekly, entitled Over Fotografie [About Photography], was offered by members of the association of photographers united in the GKf and by printer Meijer NV, to friends and clients, as a New Year’s gift, together with a list of members. Motivations for launching the edition were the rapid advance of the post-war photography and the new possibilities of reproduction technique coinciding with the development of photography. The despair among post-war professional photographers and the status of documentary photography (‘nothing as documentary as only a photograph can be’) in commissioned work, has been described in a text, which has very much the air of a manifesto, and is signed by the 16 members of the ‘photo group GKf’.

80 jaar van Leer
Publisher: Van Leer & Co, Amsterdam
Year of publication: 1949
Binding: spiral, with celluloid front
Size: 313 x 227 mm
Number of pages: 80
Number of illustrations: 44 black & white photographs; 1 color
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile
Type of reproduction: letter press printing (section on cliché-production): color-collotype
Printer: Van Leer & Co, Amsterdam
Photography: Carel Blazer; Victor Meeussen a.o.
Design: Otto Treumann (cover); H. van Gemert (inner work)
Type: commemoration book
Collection: Jan Wingender Collection, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

80 jaar Van Leer [80 years Van Leer] is a publication on high quality printing. With four pictures of the active staff association the company reportage is concluded. Photographs depict the individual workers and the stages of different printing processes. Besides a tour of the printer's company, activities after working hours are recorded. The large format commemoration book contains illustrations (in appendices) of paintings, manuscripts, mezzotints, labels, schemes, blind stamp, production runs and a fish.

Monsters van de Peel
Publisher: Lecturis, Eindhoven
Year of publication: 1958
Binding: paperback
Size: 20x267mm
Number of pages: 36
Number of illustrations: 13 black & white photographs; 5 monochrome color
Type of illustrations: still lives (subjektive fotografie)
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Print run: 200
Printer: Van Leer & Co, Amsterdam
Text: Martien Coppens
Photography: Martien Coppens
Design: Herman Rademaker
Language: Dutch
Type: PR instrument
Collection: Jan Wingender Collection, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam

‘In around 1900, work was begun on draining the Peel, a dreary area of flatlands on the borders of Brabant and Limburg with treacherous boggy soil, the source of many a legend and tale. Ancient trunks of trees were thrown up by the marshy peat. These were reguarly collected in a pile and burned. It was in 1951 that Martien Coppens first saw a monstrous face in the carbonized remains. Het spent the next eight years photographing ‘Monters of the Peel’ in land and water, fascinated by the capriciously abstract shapes of the tree trunks that looked like ‘disfigured freaks’ in his imagination. In 1958 the Eindhoven printers Lecturis published Monsters van de Peel as a promotional present with these photos by Martien Coppens and an experimental layout by graphic designer Herman Rademaker’. From: R.S. [Rik Suermondt], ‘Monsters van de Peel’, Frits Gierstberg, Rik Suermondt (ed.), The Dutch Photobook, Rotterdam 2012, 88-89.

Paris Mortel
Publisher: C. De Boer, Hilversum
Year of publication: 1963
Binding: clothbound, with dust jacket/Japanese binding
Size: 287x220mm
Number of pages: 68
Number of illustrations: 65 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary photography
Type of reproduction: intaglio
Print run: 1000
Printer: DEBO, Hilversum
Photography: Johan van der Keuken (editor)
Design: Marius H. Van Raalte
Language: Dutch/French/English/German
Type: PR instrument
Collection: Jan Wingender Collection, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Paris Mortel is a quadrilingual city book that more or less came about as an aside during a technical course that Johan van der Keuken (1938-2001) followed at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (IDHEC) in Paris. A warning against history it is, in which tourist locations are excluded. Inspired by experimental jazz music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, but also by New York (1956) a revolutionary photobook by William Klein, Johan van der Keuken made a gloomy documentary of the quarter around Gare de l'Est, metro stations and suburbs, of people on the street and children playing, culminating in a political demonstration by the extreme right. The storyline in the book is provided by six scenes and ending at Père Lachaise cemetery. The Dutch publishing world, however, was not ready for the whimsical, Dadaist layout. Eventually Paris Mortel appeared in 1963 as a promotional gift of publishing house C. de Boer in a custom layout.

NV Lettergieterij Amsterdam voorheen N. Tetterode
Publisher: NV Lettergieterij Amsterdam, Amsterdam
Year of publication: 1957
Binding: glewed
Size: 230x260mm
Number of pages: 42
Number of illustrations: 38 black & white photographs; 20 color
Type of illustrations: photo reportage; company profile
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Printer: NV Lettergieterij Amsterdam
Photography: Anonymous
Design: Mart Kempers
Language: Dutch
Type: PR instrument
Collection: Jan Wingender Collection, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

For the cover Mart Kempers (1924-1994) designed a graphical representation of a letter press mold in silver-grey, with the imprint ‘LA’ in white-green-blue-red. The name of the publisher is put in a vertical line along the binding seam: red on a white background. The booklet is interleaved with matt brown paper and three transparent tabs showing the Columbia letter ‘a’ on respectively millimeter paper, technical drawing, negative film and stencil. NV Typefoundry Amsterdam formerly N. Tetterode is obviously printed in letter press. In 38 photographs you make a tour of the company. One gets an overview of the foundry halls, sees an output channel of a molding machine and freshly casted letters. Also recorded in this book is the way in which typecases and letter trays are sorted, as well as a milling machine for copper lines and the reproduction laboratory with a camera setup.

50 losse steken
Publisher: Nederlandse Bond van Boekbinders-patroons, Amsterdam
Year of publication: 1959
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 210x170mm
Number of pages: 112
Number of illustrations: 63 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: reportage; documentary photography
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Printer: NV Drukkerij Sigfried, Amsterdam
Text: E. Elias; J.P.M. van Santen
Photography: Cas Oorthuys; Erich Salamon; Frits Gerritsen; Louis van Paridon
Design: Hans Barvelink
Language: Dutch
Type: commemoration book (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender Collection, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

50 losse steken [50 loose stitches] (1959) was commissioned by the Dutch Federation of bookbinderspatrons on the occasion of its 50 year anniversary. In photographs originating from photographers’ archives, as well as commissioned work by Cas Oorthuys, Frits Gerritsen, Erich Saloman and Louis van Paridon the jubilee booklet shows highlights from fifty years of world history. By way of images in the form of rhyme, and using all kinds of ads, illustrations and illustrated press, fifty pages are
devoted to world events and fifty to bookbinding.

Taal & Teken
Publisher: Vereniging ter Bevordering van de Belangen des Boekhandels
Year of publication: 1965
Binding: paperbound
Size: 280x200mm
Number of pages: 80
Number of illustrations: 45 black & white photographs, 7 color
Type of illustrations: reportage
Type of reproduction: letter press printing; copper plate printing
Printer: NV Drukkerij Confiance, Amsterdam; Nederlandsche Rotogravure Maatschappij NV, Leiden
Text: Bert Schierbeek
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: Mart Kempers
Type: commemoration book
Collection: Jan Wingender Collection, Leusden/Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Writer-poet Bert Schierbeek (1918-1996), member from the ‘Fiftiers’ movement, wrote texts for three company photobooks, respectively commissioned by a textile manufacturer, a paper mill and the Dutch association to promote the interests of booksellers. Both in De draad van het verhaal [The threat of the story] (1960), Drievel in het wapen [Three sheets in the coat of arms] (1961) as taal & teken [language and signal] (1965) he fits the metaphor, an important style means of modern post-war poetry. Perhaps inspired by German-language photo books which came about on the basis of cooperation between an experimental poet and photographer, as Im Ruhrgebiet (1958), but in any case inspired on the letterhead of the GKf and that of its members, Bert Schierbeek had put his contributions in company photobooks only in a Garamond italic.


One of the most beautiful books of the G(erman) D(emocratic) R(eplubic) Kannibalen PARR/BADGER III Heynowski & Scheumann Photography

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Heynowski & Scheumann: Kannibalen (PARR/BADGER III)

*Kannibalen* was produced by two prominent East German documentary film makers about a West German mercenary called *Kongo* Mueller. It is probably one of the greatest (if not the greatest) anti-imperialistic propaganda books and is very much aimed at West Germany. It was *rediscovered* as a photobook by Thomas Wiegand in an article in Fotokritik: (http://www.fotokritik.de/artikel_88_1.html) Google does a pretty good job of translating it. *Kannibalen* is also one of the star attractions in the forthcoming third volume of the Parr and Badger History of the Photobook which has made it even scarcer and more expensive recently. One of the interesting bits about the book is that most of the photographs are NOT by Mueller but by Gerd Heidemann, who was a Stern Reporter. He is best known as the main engine behind the faked Hitler diaries which adds a surreal aspect to the whole show. It is sometimes referred to as a *protest* book which is slightly problematic This book was published in the DDR and all East German *protest* books were really devised, designed, and manufactured by the state to show their good citizens what a good place the East was compared to the West. Listed in Parr/Badger volume 3

"The world should know it!" - Heynowski & Scheumann : Cannibals (1967) 

The book should be supplied with an instruction leaflet for the faint hearted. Cannibalism is a taboo, and the open display of violence is no less problematic. Photos of violent crimes and their victims are known from war and civil war or the Holocaust. The Scho-ckierende thing is that you first of all, it automatically goes off, that these images contain a kernel of truth. "The photographic image is by its very nature always concrete; moreover, it is always fraught emotional experience so promising as the abstract thought" (H & S 1966 zit.n. retrospective H & S 1976, p.49). The trium-phierende photographs of victims is a traditional action-wise, similar to the production of shrunken heads of slain enemies or of lampshades made of human skin.But the authors of the book did more to celebrate than a moral victory.

The book "cannibals" in 1967 received an award as one of the "most beautiful" books of the GDR. It is not really nice, rather scary. The reading promises to be a very special experience, even if the ironically downplaying subtitle reads: "A night-ländisches poetry album in autobiographies". It is directed it against the (of course) Western imperialism on the example of confusion surrounding the independence (1960) by the former Belgian Congo. In this civil war-like clashes, including West German mercenaries were in use, what 1964, the star and other West German newspapers had reported (Steinmetz / Prase 2002, p.72). The media treatment of the performance of the mercenaries in the Congo led to a grotesque German-German episode in the Cold War. 






























Kampf in Holland Winterhilfswerk-Heftchen (Winter Relief Fund Booklets) Propaganda PARR/BADGER III Heinrich Hoffmann Photography

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Winterhilfswerk-Heftchen 
(Winter Relief Fund Booklets)

Bild Dokumente Heinrich Hoffman, Munich, 1937-41
Der Fuehrer Macht Geschichte (The Fuehrer Makes History),
26 books x 36 pp; each book 49 mm x 37 mm (1,5# x 1,25#)
Paperbacks, aproximately 17 b&w photographs per book.



Minature Nazi propa ganda booklets given during Winter hilfswerk (winter helps work-WHW) to those who donated to the Nazi charities that supported the poor. Hitler claimed sole credit for this idea, but it was actually started by the government of Bruning in 1931. They have a string attached to them for hanging on a button or for decoration of a Christmas tree. It was an important status symbol to indicate the person had donated to the poor and the Nazi Party. These booklets were passed out from 1933-1945. Photo of Hitler on front. Rare.; (Nazi Winterhilfswerk propaganda booklets); Photographs; 1'' x 1/2 

See also 

In 't verleden ligt het heden : Neêrlands grootheid in beeld Nazi propaganda Erik Kessels / Paul Kooiker Terribly awesome photobooks


Das Gesicht der Niederlande Nazi Propaganda ...

German Winter Help/Winterhilfswerk Offers Dozens of Collectible Categories

by Matthew Roth (12/21/12).


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This is an example of a Winter Help/Winterhilfswerk door plaque (Tuerplaketten in German) from December 1934.
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A German Winter Help/Winterhilfswerk “We’ve Helped” donation favor/tinnie/pin from 1933-34.
Most of the German people suffered heavily after the Frist World War, especially in the large cities, due to the sacrifices made for the war effort, reparation payments, high unemployment, costs of rebuilding Germany and the hyper-inflation of the early 1920s. These conditions were fertile grounds upon which the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party) would find support, grow and rise to power.

When the NSDAP came to power in 1933, those in charge realized the great propaganda potential that some kind of welfare program would provide and set into action immediately. This would serve both the social cause and their own political aims. To these ends they created the Winter Help/Winterhilfswerk (WHW).

The first WHW drive was set into action in October of 1933 and ran through 1943. A new WHW drive was started each year, and any person in Germany was eligible for assistance; however, special consideration was given to the unemployed and families with an income below what we today would call the “poverty line.”

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First War Winter Help (KWHW) March 1939 donation gutschein (rewards certificate). This voucher overprinted extending the redemption period to Jan. 31, 1940, series I, Kenn letter A, 5 RM value.
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The used (redeemed) information with recipient, store name and WHW stempel on reverse.
The WHW always dispensed goods, never money. One of the slogans of the WHW was “Fight Hunger and Cold!” The WHW drives were implemented through various means, including voluntary donations, voluntary reductions in wages (normally 10 percent), subscriptions, lotteries, volunteer work, door-to-door raising of funds, special events and the sale of various types of badges, door labels, certificates, booklets, toys, trinkets and other donation favors.

From 1933 to 1943, it is estimated that more than 8,000 different badges and favors were created for the WHW. Contributions were also received from Germans living abroad, and well-known politicians and artists also endorsed and contributed to the cause. In addition, special postcards were issued to support the WHW organization. The first 1933 WHW drive gave the WHW organization 358.1 million German Reichmarks. By the 1937 drive, this had grown to 419 million German Reichmarks.

Heinrich Hoffmann propaganda postcard #579 with Hitler Youth members in full uniform, collecting for the WHW and a soldier amputee. The back of the card is titled “The greater sacrifice.”
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Document dated Oct. 20, 1938 on WHW stationery sent to potential donors in Bayerischen Ostmark (Northern Bavaria bordering on the Sudten region of Czechoslovakia, which had just weeks earlier been ceded to Germany as part of the Munich Agreement) about helping Sudeten Germans, referred to in the text as liberated brothers.
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Photo postcard of German Shepherd dog saddled with a WHW donation can and a police man soliciting donations.
With so many types of items, most collectors focus on one or several of the categories. There is also a large overlap for topical items. Collectors of flowers, military vehicles, dogs, locations (towns and areas) and more will find these areas well represented within Winter Help items. Each of the Gaus (German districts) had its own organization and favor production, which contributes to the huge number and variety of favors and also the variations exhibited within seemingly similar favors.

During the Third Reich there were stamps issued for an emergency relief fund, the Deutsche Nothilfe, for the years 1933-35 before it was incorporated into the WHW in 1936. Stamps for the winter help were issued in 1936 through 1940 and a special issue in 1943 commemorating the 10th year of the Winter Help.

Stamps were also issued in some of the occupied areas, like Bohemia and Moravia, a former section of Czechoslovakia, and Generalgouvernement (occupied Poland).

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WHW memory stationery. The text translates to “Every letter, every card carries WHW stamps.” Used with WHW stamps for the correct postal rate.
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Generalgouvernement, occupied Poland 1940 WHW stamp set with corner margins containing the German national emblem tabs.
Stamp collectors are of course drawn to these official issues, but also special cancelations and usages. Additionally, there is a large interest in collateral items like memory sheets, postal stationery and labels/vignettes associated with the WHW and fund raising activities. Condition is the most important factor when pricing stamps, with stamps that are hinged on the gum commanding typically 20 percent of the price of a stamp that has never been hinged (has full undisturbed original gum). Used stamps are a category in unto themselves and price independently. In recent years there seems to be significantly less interest in used stamps than unused.

Within the area of door plaques (Tuerplaketten in German), there are 42 different labels, one for each month October to March 1933 to 1939/40 with well over 200 catalogued variations including paper types, printing variations of color, sizes and formats (square, round and rectangular). Prices for these items can be as little as a few dollars each to around $50. As is typical with all collectibles, this is greatly influenced by condition, scarcity and demand.

There were many postcards and postal stationery issued both publically (by the government) and privately by stamp clubs and organizations which assisted with fund raising and commemorated events like club meetings, stamp shows, stamp day and others. Prices will vary from as little as a few dollars for the lottery cards to more than $100 for some of the scarcer propaganda cards. As usual, this is greatly influenced by condition, scarcity and demand.

KWHW (Kriegs Winterhilfswerk/War Winter Help) Tag der Wehrmacht (Day of the Wehrmacht) 1941 donation favors. Complete set of 12 military related items from the German Wehrmacht.
In addition to favors, certificates of donation were also awarded to companies or wealthier donors who contributed more significant amounts. They range mostly from 20 to 100 Reichsmarks, but I have seen one for 500 RM. Depending on type and rarity, these can price in the $40 to $200 range.

Winter Help gutschein are certificates provided to people in need from the organization and came in 50 Rpf, 1 Reichsmark, 5RM and 10RM values. Some special certificates were denominated in weights for commodities like coal. The certificates were redeemable for clothing, food products, rent, gas and electricity (utilities) and more. These are collectible by their years, values and serial numbers.Prices range for $10 to $50 for the more common ones to more than $100 for special and uncommon certificates.

Matthew Roth is the owner of MAR Historical and been collecting and selling German Third Reich historical collectibles for more than 30 years. He has also authored several books on German WWII postcards that, along with books by other authors on German Third Rich Stamps and Militaria, have been brought to print by his company MAR Publishing. He lives and works in Broomfield. Colo.























A 1980 anthology of Junk Food America's Favorites PARR/BADGER III Kay Lee Photography

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The cover of the book, published in 1980. Its foreword begins: "America's Favorites is a time capsule for the 25th century. It presents in formal array 75 of the most popular enduring foods, confections, and beverages of America in our time. Each one is as familiar and beloved as the Statue of Liberty, Whistler's Mother, a Norman Rockwell cover, or a Grandma Moses landscape." Other examples not included here: Goobers, Wheaties, Tony's Pizza, Cheez Doodles, Campbell's Pork & Beans, Spam.


America's Favorites Hardcover

AMERICA'S FAVORITES

Andy Beach had quite a few strange, obscure books from his personal collection for sale at the Apartamentopop-up store in Milan last April. But America’s Favorites kept us captivated for hours: A 1980 anthology of junk food that treated each item like some kind of museum specimen, listing its package dimensions, date of origin, ingredients, and backstory — from macaroni and cheese to Cheez Doodles. The best part was that there seemed to be not a trace of irony behind the presentation, a fact I confirmed by painstakingly tracking down and then interviewing its authors, Kay and Marshall Lee. They simply wanted to present food as art, and the 75 choices in the book happened to be Americans’ most beloved. Both graphic designers as well as writers, the couple were a fixture on the art-book publishing scene at the time, Marshall having served as vice president of Harry Abrams for a spell and having taught bookmaking at NYU for 15 years. Kay worked at Harry Abrams as well, and did most of the research forAmerica’s Favorites, which was published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons (now known as Penguin). She and I spoke at length about the project, and an excerpt from our conversation is below. The slideshow that follows features 13 of the foods from the book, with selected information from the texts accompanying each.
What was the thinking behind the book?
We were just fascinated with food. What do you eat? What are your favorite things? It’s not only how it tastes but how it looks, and how it fits into the context of your life. So much of it goes back to childhood. It’s ingrained in you — you’ve got it in that little unconscious part of you that’s still 5 years old. That child is there saying you really want to have Milk Duds. You want to have truffles too, but the kid still says I want candy.
You and your husband wrote about art and bookmaking before you createdAmerica’s Favorites. How did the project come about?
We decided we wanted to make an art book about food, to show each item in a way that was really attractive and beautiful. Because the people who make these foods — even then — went to a great deal of trouble to make them look appealing, so we wanted to present that aspect of it. We did some research on ingredients, which were sometimes shocking but not as shocking as they are now. There were some foods which I won’t name but which I personally thought were abominable — I wouldn’t feed them to a dog. But Americans weren’t as savvy then about what we consumed.
What was your own relationship with food at the time?
I think Marshall and I were a little more educated about it, because we paid attention to what we ate and what was in something. We probably consumed potato chips or popcorn, but we had a wider and more selective taste by that time. My mother was always big on good health and good food. She trained us to look at labels, and if there were things you couldn’t pronounce, you probably didn’t want to buy it. Of course that doesn’t usually help — we’re captured.
What was your research process like?
You can get a lot from the package, and we delved into the various histories of food. We also got information and occasionally beautiful photos from the manufacturers themselves — the ones that were cooperative. Others were so nervous and highly suspicious that they’d get three lawyers on the phone with you. “You cannot use this food,” they’d say. Why not? We weren’t making it look bad, it was just a book about people’s favorites. So from what I recall, we had a couple of generics. One was the gelatin, because we couldn’t use the name Jell-o. We were a very reputable publisher, certainly on the up and up, and we offered every possible bit of information about the book to them, so I don’t know what their reasoning was.

What did you learn during the process that surprised you most?

How old some of the foods were, and how popular they were. Chocolate goes very far back, to the Aztecs, when it was a bitter dark chocolate drink with no sugar in it. The Swiss were the ones that created milk chocolate. Pasta is also ancient. Go to practically any country, and they’ll have some kind of pasta. They may call it something else, and they may not have grains, but they all have pasta. Even the Chinese have rice noodles. You eat what you have, and what makes it the best? Generally it’s whatever your mom made.
How did you ultimately decide which “favorites” to include?
We went into the grocery store, and looked for the shelves that were the emptiest. And we asked our friends. What did my husband grow up with? What did he like as a child? Hot dogs, Jell-o, bread. Anyone who we worked with, including the photographers, they all had input because they all had their favorites.
What was your creative concept for the book? How did you transform junk food into art?
The food manufacturers, if they sent you anything, presented it in the most beautiful advantageous way they possibly could — they would photograph food in crystal goblets. You eat with the eyes first, so it has to look beautiful and appetizing. You look at the photos and think, does that make me want to eat it? Make me want to buy it? It has to be clean and sparkling and lustrous and look so good you want to take it off the page and have a bite.

What was the critical response to the book at the time it came out?

Very positive. No one had seen it done quite like this, and our publisher was such a smart man, he got it immediately. The book was serious in some ways, but also just a lot of fun; here’s a little art book about all the stuff you like, not some fancy French things you know nothing about. This is something you know.
How do you think contemporary readers might view America’s Favorites now?
They’d see it as history, as nostalgia, and of course they’d have their own favorite thing to put in. Where’s my favorite? Why didn’t they include Ring Dings? It would be really fun to redo this with modern foods, but the next one, we’ll wait until we can do it in 3-D.

See also 

Photographs hanging in restaurants, cafes and eateries Bad Food Gone Worse René Nuijens Photography





Originator: Otto Schnering. Date of origin: 1920. Slogans: "When You Gotta Have One, You Gotta Have One." Notes: Originally called Kandy Kake, the nut roll was renamed Baby Ruth in the mid-twenties. Contrary to popular belief, it was not Babe Ruth but Grover Cleveland's first daughter, known as "baby Ruth," who was the inspiration. Baby Ruths were publicized by a 26-plane aerial circus, a Scottish Kiltie Band, a racing speedboat, and a six-pony team. In 1924, thousands of the bars, suspended from tiny parachutes, were dropped from airplanes over Pittsburgh. Baby Ruths were carried by MacMillan to the North Pole in 1927; by Admiral Byrd to the South Pole two years later.



Originator: Unknown. Date of origin: Circa 1949. Slogan: "Young America's Favorite" Notes: The size of the biggest bubble ever blown isn't certain, since bubble-blowing contests abound. (There's even a set of rules available from Bazooka.) One documented big bubble was 18 1/4" in diameter, blown in 1975. Children are the primary users of bubble gum, but 25% of the $68-million market belongs to adults, including some congressmen and movie stars.


Originator: Hector Boiardi. Date of origin: 1929. Slogan: "A Delicious Hot Meal With Meat" Notes: Signore Boiardi, only 9 when he began as a kitchen apprentice in Italy, worked his way up to be a chef at many famous restaurants in Rome, Paris, and New York. Later, at his own in Cleveland, Ohio, his special recipe for spaghetti and sauce was immediately successful, and he began to sell it for home consumption. His picture still appears on the label of every can.



Originator: Maurice and Richard McDonald. Modified by Ray A. Kroc. Date of origin: 1948.Notes: The original McDonald hamburger patties were made 10 to the pound of beef. The Quarter Pounder, shown here, was introduced in 1971. Experiments were conducted to find the right wax paper to use between the patties. It has to be slick enough so the meat will pop onto the grill and not stick, but not so slick as to make handling difficult. McDonald's hamburgers are found in 6,000 outlets in 25 countries. By 1980, over 30 billion had been sold.



Originator: Borden Foods. Date of origin: Unknown. Notes: Gail Borden patented a process of evaporating milk in 1856, opening the first plant in 1858. On the American Cheese Food package is a picture of Elsie the Cow, who first appeared in cartoon form in 1936. By 1938 she started to get her own fan mail, and in 1939 the first of 15 live Elsies toured the U.S. Elsie appeared at world's fairs, hotels, department stores, parties, and charity drives — later with a husband, Elmer, and a daughter, Beulah, and a son, Beauregard.



Originator: Elmer Doolin. Date of origin: 1932. Slogans: "Truly Krisp and Tender"; "Buy Two and Hide One For You"; "I'll Munch to That"Notes: Young Texan Elmer Doolin purchased the recipe (based on the traditional tortilla), the equipment, and 19 local accounts from a Mexican for $100. He and his mother made the chips in her kitchen. He then put the bagged chips into display racks he had built and persuaded merchants to use them in place of old-fashioned glass jars.



Originator: Colonel Harland Sanders. Date of origin: 1956. Slogans: "North America's Hospitality Dish"; "It's Nice to Feel Good About a Meal" Notes:At age 66, Colonel Sanders began to franchise his method of frying chicken. A personal appearance on a TV talk show made him a national symbol. He was still making commercials at age 88. It's said that if all the Kentucky Fried Chickens consumed in the world were laid end to end, they would stretch 93,000 miles, circling the earth four times.



Originators: Probably the Etruscans. Date of origin: In some form, believed to be prior to the 3rd century B.C. Notes: It was thought that Marco Polo brought Chinese "spaghetti" to Italy, but macaroni-making tools are seen in the frescoes of Etruscan tombs. The Etruscans are now believed to have migrated to Italy from Lydia (in Asia Minor) about the 12th century B.C.



Originator: Unknown. Date of origin: Campfire marshmallows first sold circa 1900. Slogans: "The Original Food Marshmallow" Notes: The marshmallow confection was originally made from the root of the marsh mallow, a plant native to Europe and a member of the mallow family of herbs and shrubs, many of which grow in marshy areas. Some other family members are cotton, rose of Sharon, okra, and hollyhock.



Originator: D&C Flour Co. Date of origin: Regular, 1918; instant, 1945. Notes: Early cookery grouped dumplings and puddings together, probably because both were cooked by steaming. Very early use of the word referred to sausages, as in black pudding or white pudding. Puddings range from Yorkshire pudding, to Sussex, to sweet, heavy puddings like Christmas plum pudding, to the lighter dessert puddings of milk, eggs, thickeners, and flavorings that Americans think of as puddings.



Originators: W. Charles and Gilbert C. Swanson. Date of origin: Mid-1940s.Notes: Swanson frozen dinners were created to help the servantless American housewife after World War II. New dishes were tested in the kitchens of C. A. Swanson & Sons and then submitted for approval to a panel of hotel chefs and 1,200 housewives. The first "TV Dinner" was turkey, the same dish used by the Pilgrims for their first Thanksgiving dinner more than 300 years earlier.



Originator: Dr. Thomas Bremwell Welch. Date of origin: 1923. Notes: Dr. Welch produced his first grape juice, Dr. Welch's Unfermented Wine, for local churches. It was renamed Welch's Grape Juice and introduced nationwide at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The Concord Grape Jelly was created in 1923.



Originator: Elmer Cline. Date of origin: July 13, 1921. Slogans:"Wonder Bread Builds Bodies 12 Ways"; "To Get Wonder Any Fresher You'd Have to Bake It Yourself" Notes: In large houses centuries ago, a butler gave bread to the diners according to their rank — the freshest for the master, down to the stale loves for the lowest ranking. Wonder's package was inspired by the thousands of balloons released into the air at the Indianapolis Speedway.
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