Biography

Discussion

After abandoning his studies as a painter at the Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague – by his own admission for a lack of talent – from the age of 17 Willy Schurman devoted himself to photography. In a long and respectable career he gained experience in all sorts of studio work (portraits, advertising and fashion photography) and obtained good insight into running a business effectively. In Schurman’s apprentice years photographing and retouching were still to a large extent a craft, for which skills in draughtsmanship were a major advantage. In the former atelier of Henri de Louw, Schurman learned the paint and gum printing techniques that he could later pass on to his teacher, Godfried de Groot. With Godfried de Groot he came into contact with the international art of the glamour portrait. This blew over into Europe from the Hollywood film industry in the second and third decades of the 20 th century with the arrival of the new phenomenon of film stars and matinee idols. This period with Godfried de Groot was essential for Schurman’s development in portrait photography. After that, in the studio of the Susan firm in The Hague he was given full scope to follow his own ideas. His assignment there was to do portraits of performers and technical photos for industry, and was able to develop his own personal style in these fields.

In 1937 he rented a large premises in The Hague, Laan van Meerdervoort 182, where he would settle for good. There he constructed a sober, modern studio, handily outfitted with mobile properties. In Haagse circles his professional skills, and the style of portrait photography which he championed, quite quickly earned him a good reputation and extensive clientèle, comparable with that of his colleague and fellow-Hagenaar Franz Ziegler. Portrait photography alone was however too small a basis for a photographer in the 1930s, even though his studio was frequented by figures from the entertainment world. Therefore, as soon as he set up on his own Schurman immediately also turned his attention to new fields that were becoming attractive for photographers: advertising and business photography.

He did considerable studio work for the advertising industry. Generally he photographed only the objects to be offered, for instance glass, foodstuffs or jewellery, grouped into striking still-lifes; sometimes he also used photo models for demonstrating clothing, jewellery and such. After the late 1950s he frequently worked together with Jan Schiet for the advertising commissions.

In the 1950s and ’60s producing photographic documents on businesses was also an attractive source of income for Willy Schurman and many of his colleagues. In addition to doing portraits of their directors, he photographed the machinery and buildings, and recorded work in the businesses themselves, usually for use in informational publications for new and established employees. He gave ample attention to visualizing the human side of the firm, and particularly the relations among the employees. Photographing under primitive conditions on the work floor in such businesses called for considerable ingenuity; the photographer constantly had to improvise.

His training in studios, where very different ideas about photography were the norm, had taught Schurman to handle all sorts of cameras and procedures, but from quite early on modern, handy cameras and easy techniques claimed his attention. He favoured a sober, elegant style, which was certainly influenced by Godfried de Groot’s views, but was less romantic and exaggerated. Sometimes somewhat theatrical poses and dramatic lighting betray this influence. In addition to the characteristic lighting, the essence of Schurman’s portrait photography lies in small details that often strengthen the composition, such as spectacles held in a hand, or a cigarette in the mouth. These small additions to the portrait do not distract the eye, but rather support the image through the way in which Schurman connect the face and these details by accents in the lighting. The sitters never had any difficulty in seeing themselves in the result: at once beautiful and characteristic.

The dramatic and atmospheric lighting that Schurman used for his portrait photography, and also in advertising photos when he was working with models, is not to be found in the more objective advertising work, the business reportage and family and group portraits. Clarity and functionality were his main concern there. Schurman was inclined to the simplification and abstraction of the image for the sake of clarity. Eliminating the half tones was one of his methods for simplifying the visual information. The graphic effect that this created served Schurman well in his architectural photos, in nature photography – a genre with which he was active in hsi free time – and also in group portraits. His group portraits, which he sets against a completely white background, are almost the antithesis of is largely dark portrait photographs. This manner of posing subjects free in space, omitting all details of the setting, was a form that Schurman liked to use in the 1950s. He had seen this approach in the Seeberger atelier in Paris, and knew it also from the photo of Irving Penn, which were staged in this way.

We have already mentioned the influence of Godfried de Groot on Schurman’s work, but it was by no means the only influence. Schurman had a wide-ranging interest in the field of culture. He always looked at many magazines, including trend-setting fashion journals such as Vogue, and closely followed developments in the film and theatre world. Under the influence of French cinema in the 1930s, in this decade he sometimes gave his portraits an elongated landscape format. The portrait photos of the German photographer Hugo Erfurth also inspired him, chiefly in the way in which details such as the hands were worked out, and the manner in which they would play a role in the composition. The business reportage work by Willy Schurman (and also that of his colleagues in the NFK) is in fact a direct continuation of the objective approach from the years before the Second World War. The experimental character of the pre-war period has perhaps disappeared, but concepts such as clarity, objectivity, functionality, sharpness and rendering of textures are certainly very much present in the business photography of the 1950s.

When he was not working for clients, Schurman’s photography reveals considerable relationship with the work of his personal friend and colleague Meinard Woldringh. He shows the same interest in natural and urban environments, and particularly for details in them, and has the same inclination toward graphic simplification of the objects and omitting unnecessary information. But while Woldringh was in search of the essence of the things that he photographed, Schurman’s photography seems to have an idealized concept of beauty as its real subject.

A number of factors recur constantly in Willy Schurman’s photographic oeuvre, and can therefore be considered as his personal style. They are best summed up in words such as ‘elegance’, poise’, ‘human relationships’ and ‘aesthetic design’. Professional competence and love for his profession are the basis of his work. Although not directly avant-garde, he can be regarded as a modern professional photographer in his time, who always worked with the most advanced cameras and kept abreast of new materials and techniques. He liked to experiment – for instance with low-key and high-key photography – but still was less daring than Pim van Os, for example. As early as 1938 he was employing colour photography in his advertising and business work, another evidence of his open attitude toward technical and functional innovations.

That Schurman should always have used only a limited part of his oeuvre – namely portraits and photographs of children – when he sought a wider audience through exhibitions and publication in photographic journals was typical of the views about photography as a form of artistic expression which were current at the time. This presents a one-sided picture of romantic, traditional views about idealized beauty, while Schurman’s work had many other sides. As a result, his best performances in the field of industrial commissions are little known.

After he set up a studio of his own in 1937 Schurman took on another role, as a leader in diverse professional organizations. During the war years he headed the Vakgroep Fotografie, which was imposed by the Germans. He was not only able to keep the organization in Dutch hands, but even used it to facilitate the production of false identity papers and assist members going into hiding. After the war the chairman of the Nederlandse Fotografen Kunstkring (NFK), Francis Kramer, sought his aid in breathing new life into the moribund organization. Together with Meinard Woldringh and Nico Zomer he changed the NFK into a young and vital Nederlandse Fotografen Kring, and took over the chairmanship for over 20 years. Furthermore, in the years just before and after the war he became involved in organizing professional courses for photographers, first with the Fotovakschool and subsequently with the School voor Fotografie en Fototechniek in The Hague, an initiative which had been strongly advocated by Carel Tirion. The willingness to share his knowledge had always been part of Schurman’s character. In addition to the many students and assistants which he had, including Pan Walther, Pim van Os, Cor van Weele, Daan Helfferich, Frans Vink, Meike Sund, Jo van Kralingen, Arthur Verkoren, Bert ten Hoopen, Peter van der Feltz and Paul Melief, this was expressed in his accepting a position as an instructor in photography at the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam. With his knowledge of many areas, he also made important contributions to the study of the history of Dutch photography, particularly as this has been practised at the Print Cabinet of the University of Leiden.

Documentation