Dirk de Herder
Ingeborg Th. Leijerzapf
Abstract
Dirk de Herder is a poet among the photographers. He is a sensitive portraitist who has had numerous musicians, (cabaret) artists, and other well-known figures of Dutch society sit for his camera. De Herder is also an excellent observer of ‘minor things’: insignificant events that produce surprising images when captured n a photo. Perusing De Herder’s photos is like paging through a daily journal.
Biography
|
1914 |
Dirk de Herder is born on 10 December in Rotterdam, as the son of Alle (Alex) de Herder, a cellist, and Jansje Hoenson. |
|
1926 |
De Herder wants to be a painter. He paints a still life for a private client. De Herder’s father refuses to allow him to attend the art academy, because he believes the future prospects for an artist are too limited. |
|
1929-‘32 |
De Herder responds to an advertisement for a job as ‘jongste bediende’ (‘youngest assistant’) at the photo card factory Samson, with success. He starts work on 4 December. Photo cards are produced ‘by roll’ via a print and developing installation designed by the company’s director, Samson. It is De Herder’s task to make sure that the exposed role of photo paper is properly rolled through the developer, stop bath, and rinsing tray. He then has to dry the cards on a glass plate. After Samson’s photo card factory is closed in 1931, De Herder is transferred to Samsons Reclame Bureau (‘Samson’s Advertising Agency’), where projection plates for movie houses are manufactured. As of 8 October 1932, De Herder is laid off on account of the economic malaise. |
|
1932-‘34 |
After getting laid off at Samson, De Herder works at his uncle’s catering company in Haarlem. There he comes into contact with A. Peperkamp, a press photographer, who hires him as of 1 May 1933 to make projection plates and to do darkroom work. De Herder learns little from Peperkamp, as the latter holds the belief that employees should never be allowed to become competition. De Herder complains about the poor conditions at Peperkamp, which leads to his being fired on 20 January 1934. |
|
1934-‘35 |
De Herder looks for work in Amsterdam and applies at Foto- en Kinohandel Lux (photo and film dealership, later known as ‘Capi-Lux’), Nassaukade 361. There he is hired as a darkroom laboratory technician starting on 2 March, where he makes enlargements of up to 13×18 cm and develops film. He learns a great deal from his boss, Tekker, a professional photographer. Via Willem Breuer, Zwart’s business partner and the owner of Lux, De Herder receives further training in this period from the theatrical photographer and film set decor builder Kurt F. Kahle. On 28 December 1935, De Herder is laid off at Lux due to a slowdown in sales. By this time, he already has plans to start his own studio in Beverwijk. |
|
1935-‘39 |
In a garden house behind a bookstore on the Zeestraat in Beverwijk, De Herder opens his first studio. He purchases a 10×15 Nettel Tropical camera and a 24×36 Contax camera. Henk Meinema, a camera repairman, mounts a flash device on this Contax. In Beverwijk, De Herder meets the photographer Bouman, who advises and assists him in his work. |
|
1939 |
Bored with Beverwijk, De Herder applies for a job with Herman Heukels, a press photographer in Zwolle. He is more interested in illustrative versus press photography and is therefore assigned the task of taking photos for K. Norel’s book, entitled Rondom het land van morgen (‘Around the Land of Tomorrow’). After six months of working for Heukels, De Herder gets into an argument with his employer and leaves. De Herder marries Marretje Messie. They move to the Kalfjeslaan in Amstelveen. He photographs regularly for the Rijksdienst Monumentenzorg (‘The Netherlands Historic Preservation Agency’). For a brief time, De Herder is a photography instructor at an applied arts school in Amsterdam. His successor there is Jaap d’Oliveira. |
|
1940-‘45 |
During the war, De Herder makes his living by producing portraits of private individuals and taking passport photos for forged identity papers on behalf of the PBC (Persoonsbewijzencentrale, ‘Personal Identity Documents Centre’). |
|
1946-‘49 |
At a Christmas ‘salon’ of the AAFV (Amsterdamse Amateur Fotografen Vereniging, ‘Amsterdam Amateur Photographers Association’) held at the artist’s society Arti en Amicitiae, De Herder shares first prize. The other prize-winner is the renowned photographer Henri Berssenbrugge. During this exhibition, De Herder meets the filmmaker Bert Haanstra. Together with Haanstra, De Herder goes to shoot a film at a rural estate called Manpad, near Heemstede. The film Mirthe en de Demonen (‘Mirthe and the Demons’) is completed two years later. It appears for only one week at the Amsterdam movie theatre Cinetol, and is subsequently never shown again. |
|
In 1947, De Herder leaves his wife and children and moves to the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. In the same year, Eddy Posthuma de Boer comes to work for him. In his Amsterdam years, De Herder experiences the early days of the Cobra movement. Through his friend and housemate Jan Sierhuis, he comes into contact with artists such as Pierre van Soest, Corneille, Constant, and Karel Appel. He makes portraits of these artists and reproductions of their paintings. |
|
|
1949 |
For the publisher, Allert de Lange, De Herder makes a photobook about life in the Dutch capital, entitled Amsterdam. |
|
1950-‘52 |
Once his divorce is made final, De Herder leaves the Netherlands and settles in Stockholm, Sweden. He produces a reportage on the historic centre of the city. These photos are published in a book, entitled Gamla Stan (‘Old City’). He does the finishing work for photo reportages on behalf of a South Pole expedition that has just returned to Sweden. |
|
1952-‘55 |
Upon returning to Amstelveen, De Herder is offered a retail space on the Rembrandtweg. Although he had no plans to open a photography store, he accepts the city’s offer and begins selling photographic supplies. De Herder hires the painter Pierre van Soest to design the store’s interior, who introduces the unusual colour combination of orange, green, and purple. Frits Weeda comes to work for De Herder as a designer. In 1955, De Herder leaves the photography store. |
|
1953 |
Together with Eddy Posthuma de Boer, De Herder opens a studio and photo agency on the Rustenburgerstraat in Amsterdam under the name of Co-Photo, with Magnum Photo in Paris as its model. Their first collaborative exhibition is held in the Groene Kalebas (‘Green Gourd’), a dining and exhibition establishment on the 2e Weteringdwarsstraat in Amsterdam. |
|
1954-‘64 |
De Herder begins working for VARA radio and television, initially together with Posthuma de Boer, but from 1958 on his own. |
|
1964-‘86 |
De Herder considers a shift to filmmaking and sets up the company Herder Film BV. The company produces eleven short films for television. These films are artistic impressions centred on a given theme, e.g. the Amsterdam canals, Autumn, a stream. His repertoire as well includes a children’s fairy tale and a film on the paintings of the Mexican painter Luis Filcer. De Herder sometimes combines his film impressions with poetry, e.g. in the film, Zij vielen naamloos (‘They Fell Namelessly’), about the victims of war. The films are short in duration and shown during film intermissions. De Herder is unable to make his business profitable. |
|
1968 |
De Herder begins working for Filmpost, an advertising studio in Bussum. A spinal disc hernia soon brings an end to his career as an advertising photographer—in his own opinion, a job for which he is unsuited. |
|
1969 |
De Herder moves to De Rijp in North Holland, where he makes several photobooks as a freelance photographer. He also works on what he calls ‘jut art’ (beach art’): objects constructed of driftwood and inspired by the work of the American artists Louise Nevelson and Joseph Cornell. |
|
1978 |
De Herder moves to The Hague. In addition to photos, he makes paintings, objects and collages. |
|
1982 |
De Herder takes numerous photographs while travelling along the coastlines of Europe, but fails to do any photo finishing. He feels his photography is in a period of stagnation. |
|
1980-‘87 |
De Herder is concerned about the decline of the city centre of The Hague. He photographs its deterioration, and in 1987, organises a politically tinted exhibition on this subject. In the same year, he takes a photography trip to New York. Paris and Venice are also planned travel destinations. |
|
2003 |
De Herder dies on 24 June at the age of 88. |
Discussion
In the world of photography and film, Dirk de Herder has always been a seeker: a sensitive and artistically driven spirit, who always experienced difficulty in conforming to a permanent job. In spite of his career as a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’, he has built up a substantial and interesting photographic oeuvre. In all of De Herder’s photos, people in their comings and goings play a key role. His early photos are marked by the perception of beauty and optimism, while in his later years, the notion of life’s transitory nature pervades his work with increasing frequency. One might compare De Herder’s photography with the stories of the Dutch writer Simon Carmiggelt: the pleasant atmosphere of everyday matters, romance, humour, and yet at the same time, a touch of melancholy.
De Herder acquired his training through practical experience that was out of the ordinary. He learned printing and finishing by doing assembly line work with a developing machine, doing darkroom work in a press photographer’s darkrooms, and working in a photography store. With all of these jobs, De Herder learned little more than the basics of the profession. During his days working at the photography dealer Lux in Amsterdam, he was introduced to the theatrical photographer Kurt Kahle, who taught him to photograph. In his interactions with the artists he befriended, De Herder became familiar with various artistic perspectives, which certainly influenced his own view of things. In the end it was Bouman, a photographer in Beverwijk, who taught him the tricks of the photographic trade.
Based on financial necessity and a desire to learn, De Herder accepted all kinds of jobs. The nature of these activities was quite frequently disappointing, however, and the terms of employment were usually poor. Establishing himself as an independent photographer therefore seemed to be the best option to continue his career. Once he had begun for himself, however, the limitations of his work in Beverwijk soon drove him back into the arms of a new employer. While working for the press photographer Heukels, he had a brief chance to take photos that gave him pleasure. Heukels had just been commissioned to do the illustrations for a book by K. Norel, entitled Rondom het land van morgen (‘Around the Land of Tomorrow’). Heukel was only moderately interested in doing this kind of ‘laid back’ reportage work, so he passed it on to De Herder, who enjoyed photographing beautiful landscapes and cityscapes, more so than true press photography. He was simply not brazen enough to work in this latter niche of photography: ‘I took my colleagues back to Zwolle, in a manner of speaking, on the back of my motorcycle, so they could get home quicker. And they then placed their photos in the paper earlier, with me missing the boat.’
De Herder’s photographic oeuvre can roughly be categorised into four themes (though one must interpret these ‘labels’ in a broader sense): cityscapes, still lifes, artist’s portraits, and reportages. Both in his cityscapes and still lifes, the presence of people is either visible or perceivable, despite the noticeable void in these photos. When De Herder was struck by the misty light of the morning, or the reflection of light on wet cobblestones, then he also photographed the fisherman in the early morning light or the legs of someone traversing those wet cobblestones. His still lifes often include signs of ephemerality: a wooden cross, the rotting hull of a ship, or an iron fence rising up out of the grass, which once had a function. During his years in The Hague, De Herder was intensely busy photographing the decline of the historic city centre for a period of time. He subsequently organised exhibition of these photos, intended to draw not only public interest, but above all to garner the attention of the politicians, in an effort to expose the Hague city council’s indifference.
From an early age, De Herder hung around with artists and musicians. He took portraits of many of them, typically in their own surroundings, e.g. in the studio or during a performance. De Herder sometimes asked them to pose, but preferred to capture them at a moment when they were concentrating on their work. In De Herder’s still lifes, the subject is often artist’s studios or sculpture. These images function as a link to painting—the original passion of his youth and an activity he has resumed in recent years. De Herder produced reportages chiefly in his days working for the VARA broadcasting company, which interpreted this reportage work more as illustrative material to accompany a text than as an independent photo reportage. During the production of these reportages, De Herder shot photos with qualities that could be appreciated beyond the scope of the original reportage, including several outstanding artist’s portraits, such as his portrayal of the musician Arthur Rubinstein. These have been published as examples of De Herder’s finest work in the book Herder Her en Der (‘Herder Here and There’).
After the war, De Herder received a degree of notoriety with his photobooks on Amsterdam and Stockholm. Brassaï, the French photographer De Herder so greatly admired, praised his photos of Amsterdam. During his years in the city immediately following the war, De Herder spent a great deal of time with the painter Jan Sierhuis. Through Sierhuis, he also came into contact with members of the Cobra movement: ‘I experienced the early days of the Cobra movement. I was drawn to the romance of it all. I only saw that side. The boyish artist’s life with big ideals and ideas, but no money. They asked for photos of their work, which I shot for nothing. But I had no perspective on the movement. I was unaware. They knew where they were heading, because they had studied art.’ De Herder’s frustration with having been incapable of realising his youth’s ideal—to become a painter—was something that bothered him for many years. Photography compensates this feeling only to a degree: there was still always the dependency on clients, who allowed him to make a living.
The most long-lasting commitment in De Herder’s career was his freelance collaboration with the VARA broadcasting company, for a total of nine years. He did the magazine covers for their radio and television guide, as well as reportages on a wide variety of topics. His cover photos frequently depicted portraits of musicians, singer, or other (cabaret) performing artists, occasionally shot in colour, but usually in black and white. Recurring features such as VARA’s ‘muzikantenclub (‘musician’s club’)—a music happening for young people—or ‘Artistieke staalkaart’ (‘Artistic Sampling Card’)—an informative art programme—were announced with the cover illustration. In addition, photo reportages on current topics also appeared, including an event that brought the international bigwigs of the Socialist movement together, called the ‘VARA Appèl’ (‘VARA Appeal’). The diversity of the work that De Herder did for the VARA held his interest for quite some time, until the endless rush jobs and the large amount of travel that were involved finally got to be too much for him.
For ten years, De Herder lived in De Rijp working as a freelance photographer. The spacious landscape of the province North Holland, and the necessity of a sizeable income—his children were adults by this time —gave him the (mental) freedom to be more creative with his photography. De Herder produced several photobooks, including Jan Adriaensz- Leeghwater, idealist en molenmaker (‘Jan Adriaensz- Leeghwater, Idealist and Windmill-Builder’). As a designer and photographer, he successfully attempted to recreate the atmosphere of Leeghwater’s time and living environment through reproductions and original photos. De Herder also made the book Van Gogh achterna (‘Going After Van Gogh’), together with Marinus Schroevers. Both men were familiar with Emmy Andriesse’s De Wereld van van Gogh (‘The World of Van Gogh’), in which the atmosphere of Van Gogh’s surroundings at Arles and in the Provence (Southern France) was so strikingly depicted. De Herder and Schroevers also wanted to photograph other places in Europe where Van Gogh had lived, in the same manner. To do so, they travelled for two years across Europe, ultimately resulting in an impressive supplement to Andriesse’s work. The book Herder Her en Der (‘Herder Here and There’) provides a retrospective view of De Herder’s pinnacle moments in photography over the last forty years. It is a tribute to the photographer assembled by friends.
Over the years, Dirk de Herder has relied on an extensive arsenal of cameras: a Nettel Tropical camera, a 35mm Contax, a Rolleiflex, a Hasselblad, and a technical camera have served as his ‘third eye’ at various points in his career. He has always preferred black-and-white photography. He composes mainly with light, more so than with lines and surfaces. He also prefers soft light, in which the contours of people and objects are visible, without being sharply defined. This often gives De Herder’s photos a certain poetic quality. Sometimes his photos are printed with strong contrasts and quite heavily, thus creating an atmosphere of melancholy.
De Herder rarely resorts to extreme camera angles. The strength of his compositions lies in a perceivable balance between the visual tools he uses: plastically modelled light and a skilfully chosen frame.
De Herder’s photography is a ‘docment humain’ (‘human document’) of life in peacetime, as can be encountered in various photographers’ oeuvres after the war. Contrary to fellow colleagues in the GKf (Gebonden Kunsten Federatie, vakgroep fotografie, ‘United Arts Federation, Department of Photography’), for instance, De Herder was not political-minded. Accordingly, his photos prior to the 1980s convey no ideas of a socio-political nature. De Herder continued the tradition established by Karel Kleijn during the 1930s in his photobooks published by Uitgeverij Contact. The impressionistic, serene atmosphere of Kleijn’s urban shots of Amsterdam are encountered once again in the work of De Herder, whose photography can best be described by the term ‘creative documentary photography’. In the 1930s, this genre evolved primarily in France in the work of photographers such as Brassaï, Robert Doisneau, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. De Herder was an admirer of Brassaï in particular. This is evident, for instance, in his night shot of Café Prinsengracht or the photo ‘Feest’ (‘Party’), taken at the Hotel Krasnapolsky.
Dirk de Herder produced a photographic oeuvre that is neither unique nor innovative. That said, his work that can be described as autonomous photography is a document of its era, surpassing the norm in terms of photographic design. More than anything, however, it stands as the personal statement of a photographer who created a poetic oeuvre, flourishing despite the oppression’.
Documentation
Primary bibliography
Adriaan Morriën (inl.), Amsterdam. 68 Fotografische impressies door Dirk de Herder, Amsterdam (Allert de Lange) 1947.
VARA. Jaarverslag en omroeprapport 1954. (lay-out omslag: Dick de Herder en Eddy Posthuma de Boer).
VARA. Jaarverslag en omroeprapport 1955. (lay-out omslag: Dick de Herder en Eddy Posthuma de Boer).
Vera Siöcrona (tekst), Dick de Herder (foto’s), Möte med Gamla stan, The Old Town of Stockholm, Stockholm 1959.
Dick de Herder, Een lans breken voor een brug, in Reizen 9 (oktober 1966) 7, p. 9-11.
Marinus Schroevers (tekst), Dirk de Herder (foto’s), Het letterbeeld van de tijd, Amsterdam (DICO) 1967.
Marinus Schroevers (tekst), Dirk de Herder (foto’s), Van Gogh achterna, Utrecht (Het Spectrum) 1975.
Joep Monnikendam en Hans Woestenburg (samenstelling en tekst), Dick de Herder (vormgeving en fotografie), Jan Adriaensz. Leeghwater, idealist en molenmaker, Hoorn (Edecea) 1975.
Dirk de Herder, Nico Nanninga, Fons Eliëns e.a. (samenstelling/lay-out), Marius Monnikendam, componist, Haarlem (Gottmer) 1976.
Joep Monnikendam, Hans Kanters, Zaandam (Peereboom) 1979 (lay-out: Dirk de Herder).
Joep Monnikendam en Hans Woestenburg (samenstelling), Dirk de Herder (lay-out en foto’s), Herder her en der, Venlo (Van Spijk) 1984.
images in:
Platenhoezen Ave Maria/Still wie die Nacht, Blumen Walzer, Favorieten, Poesta-klanken, Delahay Record Company NV, Den Haag.
Cosmorama 1 (november 1935) II, p. 218.
Kalender Nederlandse Trekkersbond, 1937.
De Telegraaf 24 september 1937.
Panorama. De stad Amsterdam (7 oktober 1937) 40.
Panorama. De stad Amsterdam (23 december 1937) 51.
De Prins der geïllustreerde bladen 38(18 februari 1939) 34, p. 197.
De Spiegel (17 juni 1939) 38.
De Wandelaar 13 (februari 1941).
Libelle (4 april 1941) 14, omslag.
Kleinbeeld-foto 5 (februari 1942) n , p. 303.
Kleinbeeld-foto 6 (juni 1942) 3, p. 69.
Kleinbeeld-foto 6 (augustus 1942) 5, omslag.
Kleinbeeld-foto 6 (november 1942) 8, p. 201.
Indonesia. Weekblad uitgegeven door de Perhimpoenan Indonesia 16 (15 september 1945) 13, p. 14.
Indonesia. Weekblad uitgegeven door de Perhimpoenan Indonesia 16 (15 september 1945) 3, p. 14.
Indonesia. Weekblad uitgegeven door de Perhimpoenan Indonesia 16 (22 september 1945) 14, p. 16.
Indonesia. Weekblad uitgegeven door de Perhimpoenan Indonesia 16 (3 november 1945) 20, p. 1, 7.
Wij Vrouwen 1 (1 december 1945) 2, p. 12, 13.
Wij Vrouwen 2 (1 februari 1946) 3, p. 4, 5.
Wij Vrouwen 2(15 februari 1946) 4, omslag, p. 12, 13.
Kampeer Kampioen 5(16 april 1946) 38, omslag.
Met Volle Zeilen. Uitgave van de Partij van de Arbeid, oktober 1946, p. 4, 5.
Met Volle Zeilen. Uitgave van de Partij van de Arbeid (maart 1947) 13, p. 4, 5.
De Prins der geïllustreerde bladen 47 (30 augustus-13 september 1947) 14, p. 270, 271.
De Regenboog 1 (21 augustus 1948) 22, p. 8, 9. Amstelveensch Weekblad (24 september 1948) 1158, p. 1.
Natuur en Techniek 17 (augustus 1949) 8, omslag, p. 337-345-
Natuur en Techniek 17 (december 1949) 12, omslag, p. 533.
Gamla Stan 8 (1952) 8, p. 1, 3, 8.
Gamla Stan 8 (1952) 10, p. 1,3, 5-8.
A.J.G. Verster, Tin door de eeuwen, Amsterdam (J.H. de Bussy) 1954.
De Nieuwe VARA Radiogids, De VARA Radiogids,VARA Radio TV Gids, 1954-1963.
Prospectus. Dirigentencursus 1955. Hilversum (Stichting Nederlandsche Radio Unie) 1955.
Foto 10 (september 1955) 9, p. 270-273.
Corneille F.Janssen (samenstelling), Het Paleis op de Dam, Amsterdam (Allert de Lange) 1953.
‘Droomland’. Theater voor de jeugd. Wij brengen in seizoen 1953-1954: Keesje Krum, de kranige kwajongen (folder).
Het Diafragmaschoolproject vindt zijn draai. Architekten- en Ingenieursbureau D.H. Vendelbosch (folder).
Renault Revue (1975) 2, omslag, p. 18, 19.
Renault Revue (1975) 4, p. 8-11.
De Leidse Hofjes 6 (september 1977) 2, p. 52, 54.
Secondary bibliography
Auteur onbekend, Bij de foto’s, in Kleinbeeldfoto 5 (februari 1942) 11, p. 305.
Auteur onbekend, Bij de foto’s, in Kleinbeeldfoto 6 (juni 1942) 3, p. 71.
Auteur onbekend, Bij de foto’s, in Kleinbeeldfoto 6 (augustus 1942) 5, p. 129.
Auteur onbekend, Bij de foto’s, in Kleinbeeldfoto 6 (november 1942) 8, p. 215.
Auteur onbekend, Piet de Merel voelt zich best op z’n gemak in de huiskamer, in Het Vrije Volk 3 juni 1954.
KL., Prentbriefkaart uit Mokum, in Foto 9 (augustus 1954) 8, p. 233-234.
M.E. Schwitters, Twee fotografen sluipen door de studio’s en leggen op verrassende wijze het radio-leven vast, in Wereldkroniek 59 (26 mei 1956) 21.
Auteur onbekend, Politieke prenten van Braakensiek. Reizende expositie. Tournee langs bibliotheken, in Helderse Courant 2 maart 1972.
G.H., Dirk de Herder opende fototentoonstelling in Rijper Museum, in Nieuwe Noordhollandse Courant 11 september 1972.
Auteur onbekend, Bij ons in De Rijp, in Nieuwe Noordhollandse Courant 27 september 1972
B., Het Proces: getuigen van geloven in droom, in Nieuwe Noordhollandse Courant 29 oktober 1973.
Auteur onbekend, Dirk de Herder exposeert foto’s van bomen in ‘t Rijper Museum, in Noordhollands Dagblad 30 juli 1974.
Auteur onbekend, Bomen kijken in Rijper Museum. Foto-expositie van Dirk de Herder, in Nieuwe Noordhollandse Courant 2 augustus 1974.
Auteur onbekend, Fototentoonstelling bomen geopend, in Nieuwe Noordhollandse Courant 5 augustus 1974.
Auteur onbekend, Bij ons in De Rijp, in Nieuwe Noordhollandse Courant 14 augustus 1974.
Marinus Schroevers, Van Gogh’s opgejaagde, wanhopige en geweldige reis door het leven, in Renault Revue (1975) 3, p. 20-24 (met foto’s).
Auteur onbekend, Nieuw boek over Leeghwater door Joep, Hans en Dirk. ‘Idealist en molenmaker’, in Nieuwe Noordhollandse Courant 26 mei 1975.
B., Joep Monnikendam c.s. geven gestalte aan menselijke Jan Adriaenszoon, in Nieuwe Noordhollandse Courant 28 mei 1975, p. 19.
Theo Alberts, Leeghwater kon erg veel, óók fantaseren. Boek over zijn leven voor het feest in De Rijp uit, in Het Parool 28 mei 1975.
Auteur onbekend, Leeghwater boeiend beschreven als mens en idealist, in Friesch Dagblad 4 juni 1975.
Auteur onbekend, Uitstekende biografie over Leeghwater, in Reformatorisch Dagblad 16 juni 1975.
Haro Hielkema, Leeghwater: een idealist en een fantast. De Rijp viert vierhonderdste geboortedag van ‘droogmaker’, in Trouw 16 juni 1975.
J.H. Kruizinga, De Rijp herdenkt Jan Adriaansz. Leeghwater, in Nederlands Dagblad. Variant 21 juni 1975, p. 4, 5.
J.Th. Balk, Leeghwater: lege meren, maar valse klokken, in NRC Handelsblad 21 juni 1975.
Auteur onbekend, Van Gogh achterna, in De Zaanse Gezinsbode 16 oktober 1975.
Auteur onbekend, Van Gogh achterna, in NRC Handelsblad 14 november 1975.
Henk Egbers, Warme nieuwsgierigheid naar Vincent van Gogh, in De Stem 10 december 1975.
Pilger, ‘Van Gogh achterna’, bijzondere reis voor velen, in De Typhoon 14 januari 1976.
J.H. Rombach, Molens en denkbeelden in Holland, in Reformatorisch Historisch Tijdschrift februari 1976.
Fanny Kelk, Van Gogh achterna op aparte manier. Boek van Marinus Schroevers en Dirk de Herder geeft aangrijpend gevoel van ‘erbij geweest zijn’, in Het Parool 10 april 1976.
Een zee van schelpen. Tentoonstelling in het kader van Toer-In Noord-Holland 1976, georganiseerd door de Culturele Raad Westzaan van 5 juni t/m 8 augustus in de Grote Kerk te Westzaan (folder).
Auteur onbekend, Bij ons in De Rijp, in Nieuwe Noordhollandse Courant 22 juni 1977.
Auteur onbekend, Levensverhaal Ome Ko verschijnt in druk, in IJmuider Courant 6 juli 1977.
Jan de Carpentier, Dick de Herder meester in zwart-wit fotografie. Unieke documenten van rond 1950, in De Typhoon 15 maart 1984.
Auteur onbekend, Tentoonstellingen, in De Volkskrant 14 maart 1984.
W.P. Groot, Idylische foto’s van Dick de Herder, in Noordhollands Dagblad – Schager Courant 20 maart 1984.
Hans Vogel, Het zwart/witte leven van Dick de Herder, in Het Parool 24 maart 1984.
Emile Meijer, Her en Der het licht achterna. Een beschouwing bij het jongste fotoboek van Dirk de Herder, in Professionele fotografie (april/mei 1984) 2, p. 31-35 (met foto’s).
Auteur onbekend, Dick de Herder, in Foto 39 (mei 1984) 5, p. 15.
Auteur onbekend, Het licht van twee ‘kijkijzers’. Foto-expositie in De Drukstal, in Nieuwe Noordhollandse Courant 5 juni 1984.
Eric Beets, Foto’s in De Drukstal: Realistisch en roze oog, in Alkmaarse Courant 20 juni 1984.
Auteur onbekend, ‘De Buurt’, in Haagsche Courant 11 augustus 1984.
Gé Tol, Dirk de Herder rekent af met zijn fotoverleden, in Plus uit 22 november 1984, p. 15.
Bas Roodnat, De Herder wil helaas niet meer fotograferen, maar objecten maken, in NRC Handelsblad 14 december 1984.
Remco Campert (inl.), Amsterdam 1950-1959 20 fotografen, Amsterdam (Fragment) 1985, (met foto’s).
Auteur onbekend, Foto-expositie van oud-Rotterdammer, in Uit 30 januari 1985.
Auteur onbekend, (opening tentoonstelling van Dirk de Herder in Delfshaven), in Rotterdams Nieuwsblad 4 februari 1985.
Rob Vermeulen, Dirk de Herder, in Rotterdams Nieuwsblad 9 februari 1985.
Auteur onbekend, Voedseldroppings inspireren kunstenaars, in Amersfoortse Courant 2 mei 1985.
Auteur onbekend, luchtvaartoorlog in beeld bij expositie op vliegbasis, in Nieuwsbode 30 mei 1985.
Auteur onbekend, De lucht in, in Kunstbeeld juli 1985.
Auteur onbekend, Dirk de Herder protesteert in Boterwaag, in Haagsche Courant 12 juni 1986.
Torn van Rijswijk, Bewogen beeldverslag van een roepende in de woestijn, in Haagsche Courant 13 juni 1986.
Herman Nunnink, Dirk de Herder en de schoonheid van het verval, in Twee N. Personeelsblad Nationale-Nederlanden juni/juli 1986, p. 62-64.
Memberships
NFPV, gedurende 20 jaar.
Awards
1946 Gedeelde eerste prijs (samen met H. Berssenbrugge), 8 e Amsterdamse Kerstsalon van Fotografische Kunst (AAFV).
Exhibitions
1946 (g) Amsterdam, Arti et Amicitiae, Achtste Amsterdamse Kerstsalon van Fotografische Kunst (AAFV).
1952 (g) Amsterdam, De Groene Kalebas, Eddy Posthuma de Boer en Dick de Herder.
1953 (g) Amsterdam, La maison du chatqui-pelote, Dick de Herder en Eddy Posthuma de Boer. Parijs, Stockholm en Amsterdam.
1972 (g) De Rijp, Rijper Museum, PietBosman, Kees de Gooyer, Dirk de Herder.
1974 (e) De Rijp, Rijper Museum, Bijdrage tot de waardering van de resterende bomen.
1975 (g) De Rijp, Museum ‘In ’t Houten Huis’, Leeghwater, idealist en molenmaker.
1975 (e) Amsterdam, Van Goghmuseum.
1976 (g) Westzaan, Grote Kerk, Een zee van schelpen.
1976 (g) Tokio, Rijksmuseum voor Westerse Kunst, (rondreizende tentoonstelling).
1977 (g) Westzaan, Grote Kerk, Gevangen ruimte.
1983 (g) Amsterdam, Stichting Beeldende Kunst, Fotografie in Nederland.
1984 (e) Amsterdam, Galerie Fiolet, Dick de Herder 40 jaar fotografie her en der.
1984 (e) Zaandam, Zienagoog, Dick de Herder 40 jaar fotografie her en der.
1984 (g) De Rijp, De Drukstal, Dirk de Herder en Frederick Linck.
1984 (g) Krefeld-Gartenstadt, Leolux, Photo ‘s von Dirk de Herder aus Den Haag und Aquarelle von Georg Pudeldo aus Krefeld.
1984 (g) Den Haag, Galerie Van Kranendonk, De Buurt.
1984 (e) Amsterdam, (Expositie tijdens september concert van The Swing Society).
1984 (e) Twello, Bibliotheek-galerie, Dirk de Herder, foto’s en objekten.
1985 (e) Rotterdam/Delfshaven, Galerie Aelbrecht, Dirk de Herder, foto’s.
1985 (e) Venlo, Novotel, Foto’s Dirk de Herder.
1985 (e) Amstelveen, Expositiecentrum Aemstelle, Foto’s Dirk de Herder.
1985 (g) Rotterdam/Delfshaven, Galerie Aelbrecht, Een hart voor de stad.
1985 (g) Amsterdam, Gemeentearchief, Amsterdam 1950-1959 20 fotografen.
1985 (g) Soesterberg, Militaire Luchtvaartmuseum.
1986 (g) Amsterdam, De Verbeelding, (Dirk de Herder en Eddy Posthuma de Boer).
1986 (g) Amsterdam, Koepelkerk.
1986 (e) Den Haag, Boterwaag, Stadskritiek als kulturele aktiviteü. Aan Den Haag gewijde foto’s, montages en objecten.
1987 (g) Scheveningen, Kurhaus, Langs de vloedlijn van Europa.
Films
1947 Myrthe en de Demonen, samen met Bert Haanstra, sprookjesfilm.
1959 Amsterdam, kleurenfilm voor Fa.Fischel.
1961 De gracht, abstracte film.
1964 De celbrief.
1964 Herfst.
1965 De koning en zijn pijpen, kindersprookje.
1966 De Beek.
1966 Drie wereldsteden, kleurenfilm voor Fa. Fischel.
1966 Zij vielen naamloos, filmisch gedicht over gevallenen in de Tweede Wereldoorlog.
1966 De Klok.
1967 Carnavalesque, schilderijen van Luis Fileer.
1968 De poets, kinderfilm.
Television programs
2 augustus 1974, Dag met een gaatje (AVRO).
28 september 1975, Van Gogh achterna (VARA).
Sources
Den Haag, Dirk de Herder, documentatie en mondelinge informatie.
Leiden, Prentenkabinet, bibliotheek en documentatiebestand.
Collections
Amsterdam, Gemeentearchief
Leiden, Prentenkabinet van de Rijksuniversiteit.