Photography!: A Special Collection at Leiden University

by Maartje van den Heuvel

Leiden University's photographic collection is unique in many ways. It is both the oldest and largest museological photography collection in the Netherlands, telling the whole story of the emergence and development of photography. It includes work by contemporary photographers like Stephen SHore and Rineke Dijkstra, and 'classic' works by photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Diane Arbus. The collection includes examples of of virtually all photographic techniques, rare objects and artistic the early experimentsof photographic pioneers like William Fox Talbot, for example, and the collages of Paul Citroen. Artistic ambition is illustrated by pieces rom Gerard Kiljan and Paul Schuitema's Dutch New Photography movement, and photographers like Emmy Andriesse and Cas Oorthuys represent the engagement of documentary photographers. The collection focuses on Dutch photography in an internatinonal context, and so includes work by great photographers like JuliaMargaret Cameron, Edward Steichen and André Kertész. This lavishly illustrated catalogue features a special selection from the collection, chosen for its visual quality. The pieces are not shown chronologically, but on the basis of artistic theme, producing surprising combinations and unique insights.

246 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2010