“It was not always possible to grasp the scenes in one glance; sometimes absurd or even enigmatic, they were however unmistakably Dutch: bright, well-organized, even tidy and good-humored”.

Hripsime Visser, Curator, on the photography of Hans Aarsman,
InSight: Contemporary Dutch Photography from the Collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2005

Rineke Dijkstra, Beach Portraits

This blog begins an exploration into the subject of contemporary Dutch documentary photographers. It suggests that there is, perhaps, a unique “look” to contemporary Dutch photography and, as stated by the above critic, something “unmistakably Dutch” about their work and about what seems to be a unique approach to the documentary photograph. The inquiry suggests that there are a number of influences which might account for this including a rich artistic heritage (especially in painting), sociocultural forces in Dutch society and a strong sense of place that seems to be inherent to the people of the Netherlands. The art historian, Svetlana Alpers, addressed these issues in her 1983 groundbreaking book, The Art of Describing: Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century.  Alpers presents a provocative thesis that in Holland, visual culture was central to the life of society. “How then are we to look at Dutch art, my answer has been to view it circumstantially…by appealing to circumstances I mean not only to see art as a social manifestation but also to gain access to images through a consideration of their place, role and presence in the broader culture”. The central question asked here is, if one accepts Alpers analysis of 17th century Dutch painting, does it also hold true for 21st century Dutch photographers and, if so, how is it manifested in their work.

In this analysis, we will look at the work of a number of contemporary Dutch photographers including Bertien van Manen (b. 1942), Hendrik Kerstens (b.1956) and Rieneke Dijkstra (b.1959) as well as a younger generation of Dutch documentary photographers including Hellen Van Meene (b. 1972) and Danielle Van Ark (b.1974).