Beyond the Amateur: A Collector’s Perspective on the History of Photography

The collector rather than the collection sets the focus for Beyond the Amateur: A Collector’s Perspective on the History of Photography at the Marres Centre for Contemporary Culture in the Netherlands.

Arjan De Nooy’s collection of work by Dutch photographers reveals his selection of the most historically significant photographers and their contribution to the current discourse of photography with an emphasis on the role of the amateur.

The title of the show Beyond the Amateur adapts the notion that the photography canon can only register the ‘star author’ and ‘anonymous amateur’. De Nooy has chosen to display the work of three photographers who fail to fit into either category.

The show begins appropriately with the work of the 18th century scientist Adriaan Paauw, whom De Nooy credits as the inventor of photography. The question as to who created the first photograph is a contentious one. French inventors Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1765–1833) and Louis Daguerre (1787–1851) are widely accepted as the inventors of the first photographic image. Hércules Florence (1804-1879), who was working at the same time in Brazil, also has a strong claim to the invention.

Rarely then is Paauw, an obscure Dutch chemist, mentioned in this debate. Yet De Nooy argues that Paauw developed a way of duplicating objects in the form of photograms around 1790. For the first time, Paauw’s prints are on show here.

Next in the exhibition is 19th century painter Théophile de Bock (1851-1904). Better known for his art, De Bock also took photographs of landscapes and trees, which he most likely used to aid his painting; his inclusion by De Nooy shows that his photographs deserve more attention for their photographic merit.

Continuing into the 20th century, the exhibition features a series of shots by Eline Portman (1879-1928). Her photographs of passers-by are taken on the streets of holiday resort Valkenburg and are characterised by the subject staring directly into the lens.

A series of anonymous undated shots that are not part of De Nooy’s thematic and chronological selection are examples of images that have fascinated and inspired De Nooy, and show how the exhibition goes beyond the idea of amateur and professional.

Alex Pearlman