Leiden photo collection in The Hague Photo Museum

‘If you are passionate about photography, you couldn't have a better job than this.' Saturday 23 January saw the opening of the exhibition entitled 'Photography! A special Collection from Leiden University' in the Photo Museum in The Hague. This is the first exhibition organised by Maartje van den Heuvel in her position as curator of the Leiden collection. She makes this comment on her job as we make our way to her large, rather untidy room scattered with piles of papers and folders, and featuring a large wooden desk.

Resistance
Professor of Art History Hans van de Waal had to overcome a lot of resistance in 1953 when he started to amass a photo collection at Leiden University - as part of the Print and Documentation Centre. This resistance came both from the academic and the artistic world: surely we would not lower ourselves to this? But Van de Waal paid little attention to such opinions and time has proven him right.

Image: Paul Citroen (1896-1983), Metropolis, 1923, Collage, 76,1 x 58,4 cm, Special Collections, University Library, Leiden © Pictoright Amsterdam 2010.

Photography as art
The Leiden collection is extremely valuable as an academic collection. As an art form, photography is both very new and highly contested: it was only in the sixties (in the US) and the seventies (in the Netherlands) that museums started with photographic exhibitions. This is borne out by the fact that the four photo museums in the Netherlands: Foam and Huis Marseille in Amsterdam, the Netherlands Photo Museum in Rotterdam and The Hague Museum of Photography - were only established in the 1990s or later. The Hague Museum, with which Leiden University has a collaboration agreement, became part of the Municipal Museum in 2002. 

Private collections
The fact that Van de Waal was able  to work on expanding the collection in Leiden relatively quickly was partly due to the fact that private collections had been existence for some time; Leiden University as a pioneer in amassing public photographs was able to acquire a number of these collections, in some cases through inheritances. The Leiden collection actually started with a private collection, namely that of Auguste Grégoire, a well-known citizen of The Hague, which Van der Waal was asked to take over when he himself moved to a smaller house.

Image: Frantisek Drtikol (1883-1961), Nude, circa. 1933, Gelatine silver print, 22.6 x 29.2 cm,  University Library, Leiden



Developments in photography
It was the express aim of Van de Waals that the collection should illustrate the development of the medium of photography. 'This is why we have examples of almost all the different techniques,' says Van den Heuvel. ‘We also have much of the equipment and many tools that photographers used. 'An example is the wooden, paint-spattered camera that belonged to Breitner, who as a painter was inspired by the new visual possibilities of photography. Van den Heuvel was also very pleasantly surprised to discover that an original example of the book from the 16th century featuring the first illustration using the camera oscura technique - the optical principle used in photography -  could be found in the Thysiana Library on the Rapenburg.

The photographic collection comprises a total of some 120,000 items.

Direction
The direction chosen by Van de Waal can be seen in the exhibition. This has become an element of the collection, based on artistic motives such as engagement and intimacy, with old and recent photos being exhibited together. The exhibits are also set against an international context. The exhibition includes photos by such well-known names as Emmy Andriesse, Henri Berssenbrugge, Paul Citroen, Diane Arbus, Piet Zwart, Paul Schuitema, Rineke Dijkstra, Cas Oorthuys, Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Curtis and Richard Avedon.

Image: Anonymous, Portrait of an unknown naked woman, circa 1855, Daguerreotype, coloured, 7,4 x 6,4 cm, Special Collections, Leiden University Library.
Artistic quality
The main criterion in selecting the photos was their expressive quality. An unavoidable hiatus in the collection is formed by the originals of the earliest salt prints. There are some examples in the collection, but these are so fragile that they can only be viewed for academic purposes and in specially modified physical conditions. 
Hendriks Kerstens
A special selection from the exhibition is the complete series of 45 portraits made by photographer Hendrik Kerstens over a number of years of his daughter Paula. At first sight, the most recent photos are reminiscent of old paintings, in particular those of the de Flemish primitives – who were actually by no means primitive - from the 15th and 16th centuries, but on further examination this is more a matter of suggestion stimulated by form, style and technique. Kerstens, who has a broad international reputation, makes his photos in his own home, occasionally using low-level flash, but hardly any other technical devices. The University Library has all 45 portraits and has committed, in agreement with Kerstens, to acquire the subsequent portraits. 

Image: Diane Arbus (1923-1971), Identical twins, Roselle, N.J., 1967, Gelatine silver print, 26.0 x 25.9 cm, Special Collections, Leiden University Library, Copyright © 1986 The Estate of Diane Arbus, LLC

Creative process
Although photos, like literature, can be reproduced infinitely, there is an important difference: whereas in the case of literature the book itself is the main carrier of the work of art, in the case of a photograph, the printing is part of the creative process. When a photograph is acquired for a collection or for museum purposes, it is always a print made or approved by the photographer him- or herself: the photo is exactly as it was or is intended by the photographer. This plays a part in determining the price of the original photo, which can be as much as tens of thousands of euros. 
Catalogue and lectures
The exhibition is accompanied by a splendid catalogue entitled 'Photography! A Special Collection at Leiden University, compiled and written by Van den Heuvel and Wim van Sinderen, curator of The Hague Museum of Photography. To celebrate the exhibition, a number of lectures will also be held in the Leiden University Library. Some of these lectures will relate to objects that are extremely fragile and so cannot be allowed to leave the building. A further aim of the exhibition in The Hague is to stimulate interest in the Leiden collection. 

Image: Martin Munkcsi (1896-1963), Untitled, 1933, Silver gelatine print, 30.0 x 24.0 cm, Special Collections, Leiden University Library
Women
Van den Heuvel became fascinated by photography during her study of Art History at Utrecht University. 'Photography is a way of lifting reality out of daily life,' she comments. 'And I find that fascinating.' 

What is remarkable about photography is that women play a far more prominent role in this artform than in any other branch of the creative arts. There are internationally recognised female photographers. This is reflected in the appointment in Leiden of the second female curator in succession. Age has also been shown not to constitute a barrier: Van den Heuvel herself started in her thirties and succeeded Dr Ingeborg Leijerzapf who was appointed when in her twenties. A daring and refreshing trend. 

Photography! A special Collection at Leiden University
Leiden University/The Hague Museum of Photography
ISBN 978 90 89101 91 4/NUR653
€ 49.50
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(26 January 2009)
Web Editor – 03/02/2010