1302
elsewhere. The photographs were offered for sale and
the catalogues mention ‘ import duties’ and names of
dealers as well. Benjamin Brecknell Turner’s views of
Amsterdam for instance were not exhibited in 1858 by
the photographer himself but by the Amsterdam pub-
lisher W. Kirberger. The 1865 International Exhibition
for Arts and Industry took place in the newly built Dutch
Crystal Palace, the Paleis voor Volksvlijt in Amsterdam.
Nadars mammoth photograph of a Japanese was being
shown to the Dutch public, as well as his images from
the Paris’ catacombs. Maxwell Lyte for instance pre-
sented his landscapes from the Pyrenees and Wilhelm
Hammerschmidt Egyptian views.
In those fi rst 26 years since photography was intro-
duced, the Dutch didn’t have proper photographic soci-
eties, nor organized groups of photographers. Manuals
and treatises from everywhere were translated for the
amateurs who were interested in the new technique of
image making. Some magazines for fi ne arts or industry
translated articles from European origin and off course
many read journals from France, Great Britain and
Germany. The Dutch periodicals Algemeene Konst- en
Letterbode as well as Album der Natuur regularly men-
tioned exhibitions, technical innovations and details in
the fi eld of photography. The 1860s saw the rise and
spread of commercial and professional photography.
This took place on a far smaller scale however than
in the larger European countries. The fi rst magazine
exclusively concentrating on photography, Tijdschrift
voor Photographie, was introduced in this period, again
initiated by J.A.van Eyck, and leaded by a captain in the
army L.P. van Beek. In 1864 it appeared for the fi rst time
and it lasted until 1866. Another photographer needs to
be mentioned here. The German Julius Schaarwachter
emigrated from Berlin to Nijmegen and started his De
Navorscher op het gebied der photographie, Tijdschrift
voor photographie en aanverwante wetenschappen be-
tween 1865 en 1876. He was a strong protagonist of the
founding of a society or union for professional photog-
raphers, which he however never effectuated. In general
the journals mainly had a ‘technical’ character. Other
known platforms for exchange were the gentlemen’s
societies of art, architecture and antiquities.
It lasted until 1872 before the fi rst photographic
society, the ‘Amsterdamsche Photographen-Vereenig-
ing,’ was founded with A. Haakman as its president.
The society had its own journal, like the fi rst Dutch
journal also mentioned Tijdschrift voor Photographie.
Only 45 photographers joined the club. The members
exchanged photographs and technical details and held
lectures, as we can read in its minutes in the Tijdschrift
voor Photographie. In 1887 this rather subdue soci-
ety was dissembled. Within a year a new society for
amateur photographers—for ‘dilettantes’—under the
name of ‘Helios,’ with a journal with the same name
was founded in Amsterdam. Pioneer photographer As-
ser was one of its active members. In 1889 or 1890 the
‘Nederlandsche Fotografen Vereeniging’ was founded,
which however didn’t last long and of which we virtu-
ally know nothing.
The Amsterdam society was the fi rst in a long row
of local amateur photographer societies which were
based in virtually every city, from Groningen to Arnhem,
from The Hague to Maastricht. In the 1890s throughout
the country a vast amount of international exchange
took place by means of international exhibitions of the
pictorialists. Foreign publications such as Die Kunst in
der Photographie, Camera Work, and The Studio were
well known. The work of British, American and Ger-
man photographers, among them Alfred Stieglitz and
Heinrich Kühn was often shown to the Dutch photog-
raphers and public. Lux (1889–1927) was an important
monthly photography journal. Little known—only two
numbers survive—was the journal Lumen, ‘Magazine
for Photography, Projection and Cycling,’ founded by
the Amsterdam photography fi rm Ivens & Co in 1897.
The beginning of the 20th century saw the founding of
two long lasting and important societies Nederlandse
Fotografen Kunstkring (NFK) in 1902 as a real trade
union and the Nederlandse Club voor Foto-Kunst
(NCvFK) in 1907.
Mattie Boom
See also: Asser, Eduard Isaac; Baldus, Edouard;
Kühn, Heinrich; LeGray, Gustave; Le Secq,
Henri; Lyte, Farnham Maxwell; Marville, Charles;
Montizon, Count de; Nadar; Nègre, Charles; Niepce
de St. Victor, Claude Félix Abel; Stieglitz, Alfred; and
Turner, Benjamin Brecknell.
Further Reading
Boom, Mattie, “De Amsterdamse fotografi etentoonstellingen van
1855, 1858 en 1860.” In Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse
Fotografi e in monografi eën en thema-artikelen, Alphen aan
den Rijn, edited by Ingeborg Leijerzapf, Amsterdam: Sam-
son/Voetnoot, 1984.
Catalogus der Tentoonstelling van Photographie en Heliographie,
Amsterdam 1855.
Catalogus der Tentoonstelling van Photographie en Heliographie,
Amsterdam, 1858. Catalogus der Tentoonstelling van Pho-
tographie en Heliographie, Amsterdam, 1860. Catalogus der
Tentoonstelling van Photographie, Enz., Amsterdam, 1862.
de Klerk, Liesbeth, “De Navorscher op het gebied der photogra-
phie: een platform voor de denkbeelden en aanbevelingen van
Julius Schaarwächter.” In Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse
Fotografi e in monografi eën en thema-artikelen, Alphen aan
den Rijn, edited by Ingeborg Leijerzapf: Amsterdam, Sam-
son/Voetnoot, 1984.
de Ruiter, Tineke, “De Nederlandsche Fotografen Kunstkring,
1902–1948.” In Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Fotografi e
in monografi eën en thema-artikelen, Alphen aan den Rijn,
edited by Ingeborg Leijerzapf: Amsterdam, Samson/Voet-
noot, 1984.
SOCIETIES, GROUPS, INSTITUTIONS, AND EXHIBITIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS
