Biography

Discussion

Like his father, Pieter Oosterhuis was an illustrator and a painter of some merit. In the period 1836-1850, we find his name listed as a regular participant in the annually recurring exhibition series Levende Meesters (‘Living Masters’). The titles of his entries, e.g. Een Heilige Familie naar A. v.d. Werff (‘A Holy Family after A. v.d. Werff’, 1836) and Een groentevrouwtje (‘A Vegetable Woman’, 1850), indicate he was primarily a genre painter, who also did reproduction work.

As was the case with many of his contemporary photographers, Oosterhuis switched from his original profession to photography in the early 1850s. From whom he received his training is not known. In 1851, Oosterhuis established an ‘Atelier Photographique et Daguerreotype’ (‘Studio Photographic and Daguerreotype’) at his home address, where customers could have their photographic portrait taken. At this time, there were still very few (portrait) photographers operating in Amsterdam. Accompanying the first mention of Oosterhuis’ name in the General Address Book of Amsterdam 1853-1854, five other photographers were listed: H.G. de Boer, F.W. Deutmann, Eduard François, A. Pieterse, and J.F.C. Schiltz. During the 1860s, the number of photographers in the city grew rapidly, with the municipal address book of 1866 citing as many as 44!

Oosterhuis worked with portrait photography for a period longer than suggested by Haakman, the chairman of the APV (Amsterdamsche Photographen Vereeniging, ‘Amsterdam Photographers Association’). In his necrology of Oosterhuis published in 1885 in the Tijdschrift voor Photographie (‘Magazine of Photography’), Haakman wrote that Oosterhuis and the photographer Niekerk had together established a beautiful studio, which was shut down several years later. Oosterhuis is said to have then gone on to discover ‘his true destiny exclusively as a landscape photographer’. Haakman was referring to the brief collaboration between Oosterhuis and D. Niekerk in the years 1864 and 1865. Oosterhuis again advertised on his own in 1866, but still for portraits in every format. His studio (Plantage Middenlaan 120) was open every day of the week for that specific purpose, including Sundays and holidays. Providing such a high degree of customer service was the bitter reality of being a portrait photographer, managing to exist in the face of stiff competition. Oosterhuis’ portrait photos, however, are only rarely preserved in present-day collections. His cityscapes are greater in number.

Following the discovery of the wet collodion process, which made it possible to make prints from a single negative on a large scale, an industry arose that was specialised in producing cityscapes, particularly in Great Britain and France. Representative of this phenomenon in the Netherlands was Oosterhuis, who made large numbers of cityscapes, usually printed in the stereo card format. His production concerned not only views of Amsterdam, but also other Dutch cities such as Arnhem, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Dordrecht, Haarlem, The Hague, Middelburg, Nijmegen, Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, Scheveningen, Utrecht, Wijk bij Duurstede, and Zaandam.

Oosterhuis’ photos were sometimes remarkably current, such as the photos of Nadar’s hot air balloon in Amsterdam (1865) and the festivities (the unveiling?) surrounding the statue of ‘Naatje on the Dam Square’, which have been attributed to his name. Also surviving are a small number of glass transparency positives depicting Amsterdam and its immediate environs.

The extensive series of stereo cityscapes entitled Vues de Hollande (‘Views of Holland’) is attributed to Oosterhuis and dates approximately from the mid-1850s. The series is numbered (the highest number found is 321), with some bearing Pieter Oosterhuis’ signature directly on the image.

From about 1857, Oosterhuis allowed his photos to be sold by the bookseller A. Jager. Jager published stereo cards, as well as entire albums with cityscapes in both the carte-de-visite and cabinet card formats. The two men’s collaboration lasted until about 1865. Hereafter, the book and art dealership Jan D. Brouwer became the publisher responsible for this task. The name J.M. Schalekamp likewise appears in connection with Oosterhuis on numerous photos. The production of cityscapes on stereo cards lasted until about 1870: cabinet card photos with cityscapes, with the earliest dating from 1857, were still being produced until about 1890, by which time Gustaaf had already taken over the running of the business, incidentally under his father’s name. The later cabinet card photos typically feature specific events or festivities taking place in Amsterdam. They are therefore easier to date.

Scarcely known are Pieter Oosterhuis’ photographic reproductions of paintings, an applied form of photography creating quite a stir in 1862. In the same year, photographic reproductions of the Nightwatch and the Syndics of the Draper’s Guild (‘De Staalmeesters’) were being sold at the Leeuwenkuyl bookstore in Amsterdam. The magazine Nederlandsch Magazijn (‘Netherlands Magazine’) makes mention of this and concludes: ‘Both images are the work of the never-tiring Oosterhuis, who in his effort has herewith shown to have attained a high level, which elevates him to the status of one of the leading photographers.’ In 1877, Oosterhuis’ entry to the Internationale Tentoonstelling (‘International Exhibition’) of the APV included photographic reproductions of paintings in carbon print and silver print.

Nevertheless, it would be an injustice to Oosterhuis work, if one viewed his achievements based solely on the production of his intriguing early cityscapes. Equally important for the history of Dutch photography are his activities as an industrial photographer. Oosterhuis’ earliest known industrial work is dated 26 June 1862: a documentation portfolio featuring twelve photos of the exterior and interior of the ‘Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom en Andere Werktuigen’ (‘Royal Factory of Steam and Other Machines’) in Amsterdam and of the machines manufactured by this company. On the accompanying inlay page is a text that reads: ‘The Employees of the Dutch Royal Iron Factory are gladdened by the visit made by the Japanese Ambassador.’ This factory would later prove to be an important client for Gustaaf Oosterhuis, once the company grew to become the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij (‘Netherlands Ship-Building Company’). In 1864, the Tijdschrift voor Photographie made mention of the photos Pieter Oosterhuis shot on a monthly basis of the construction activity going on at the South-Beveland Canal. When the Dutch railway network was substantially expanded after 1860, and a start was made on the construction of railway bridges traversing the country’s major rivers in the years that followed, the various building phases of these large-scale projects were recorded photographically. Pieter Oosterhuis was one of the photographers involved.

It is not known whether the photographic registration of these projects took place on the initiative of the Dutch government. Several years prior, a government initiative in France had made it possible for the École des Ponts et Chaussées (‘School of Bridges and Roadways’) to make a serious start with photographically documenting the construction phases of various public works.

In any event, photographers in the Netherlands received their commissions from the larger building companies. The company that hired Oosterhuis to work on the railway project may very well have been the Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom en Andere Werktuigen, which manufactured the steel beams for the bridge spans. Haakman cited Oosterhuis’ commissions in his necrology, but not the names of companies that had hired him for work. He wrote that ‘there was virtually no major work carried out by the City of Amsterdam or the State, for which the photographic image was not entrusted to him and usually in an extraordinarily large format’. The author adds that it was regrettable that Oosterhuis’ contracts prevented him from putting these images up for sale.

During the years 1865 to 1871, Oosterhuis documented the progress of the construction of railway bridges at Culemborg, Zaltbommel, and Moerdijk. In the beginning, he photographed in a modest format, but by as early as 1868, in a paper format exceeding 30 x 40 cm. The building of bridges over the major rivers of the Netherlands—a spectacular enterprise for that time—also drew other photographers such as J.H. Schönscheidt, F.W.H. Deutmann, E. Fierlants, A. Boeseken, and the firm Wegner and Mottu. Pieter Oosterhuis, however, shot the earliest photos. Bridge-building and other large-scale hydraulic engineering projects in the vicinity of Rotterdam, by contrast, appear to have fallen under the working territory of photographers such as J. van Gorkom, J.G. Hameter, G.C.J. Perger, and H.W. Wollrabe. Oosterhuis never attempted using composite photos to achieve a panoramic effect (examples are known by Boeseken and Perger, among others), which was quite well-suited to subjects of this nature. He was able to depict his subject optimally by resorting to the dramatic and suggestive effect obtainable with a portoscope lens, which surpassed all other lenses in terms of its wide field of vision and large depth of field. The spatial effect of the subject is heightened in these photos by the stunning atmospheric perspective.

In about the same period, from 1867 to 1872, Oosterhuis produced a series of photos depicting the construction of the harbour piers at IJmuiden and other projects related to the digging of the North Sea Canal. The project was most likely commissioned by what was then the ‘Departement van Waterstaat’ (‘Department of Water Management’). Other civil engineering works that Oosterhuis photographed were: the construction of the locks and sluices at Veere (1869-1872) and at Vlissingen (1872); the building of the railway bridge across from the Oosterdok sluices in Amsterdam (1875); the steam pumping station at the Legmeerplassen (1875); and steamship machines and other high-pressure equipment manufactured by the Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom en Andere Werktuigen during the period 1874 to 1885.

For many years, Oosterhuis was an active member of the APV (Amsterdamsche Photographen Vereeniging, ‘Amsterdam Photographers Association’), which published the Tijdschrift voor Photographie (‘Magazine for Photography’) under its auspices. Oosterhuis was the association’s treasurer from the very start. He showed his own work on a regular basis at the organisation’s meetings, held discussions, wrote technical articles, and supplied the magazine with illustrations. Oosterhuis served as a member on the judging committee of the Internationale Tentoonstelling van Photographie (‘International Exhibition of Photography’) in 1874 and was a member of the initiating committe of the Internationale Tentoonstelling der Amsterdamsche Photographen Vereeniging (‘International Exhibition of the APV’) in 1877 (which was opened on 19 September by His Royal Majesty King William III). While this last exhibition was a success, the small number of Dutch participants was a disappointment. Yet there was also a lack of interest within the association itself. In January 1877: ‘Mr. Oosterhuis raises the meagre interest of many members and the poor showing as a matter for discussion and asks whether some way could be found to bring a change to this.’

Pieter Oosterhuis’ oeuvre arose at a time when photography was still in an experimental phase. He had no other choice but to prepare his own photographic plates. According to Haakman’s necrology, he did so with superb skill. Oosterhuis processed his shots in the following successive techniques: daguerreotype, wet collodion, and dry collodion. His prints on albumen are highly defined, bright, and rich in contrast. At a later point, Oosterhuis also turned to the carbon printing and silver printing processes.

Gustaaf Oosterhuis was undoubtedly trained to become a photographer by his father, Pieter. Following Pieter’s death in 1885, Gustaaf continued his father’s business activities—by then having turned twenty-nine—working for the same clients. He worked under the name ‘P. Oosterhuis’, apparently based on the desire to maintain the notoriety his father had acquired. The early large-format photos taken by Gustaaf Oosterhuis are in most cases furnished with a dry stamp on the cardboard mount: ‘P. Oosterhuis, Photograph, Amsterdam’. Gustaaf used this embossing as his trademark starting immediately in 1885. While Pieter Oosterhuis applied the term ‘photograaf’ to describe himself in his later years, Gustaaf changed this to ‘Photograph’, which could be interpreted as designating a mark of distinction.

It can be said that Gustaaf Oosterhuis was able to achieve the same level of quality found in his father’s photography, certainly in technical and artistic terms. One must take into account, however, that Gustaaf was able to benefit from the improved level of photographic technique. Among the projects he photographed prior to 1900 was the construction of the Westergasfabriek (‘West Gas Factory’) in Amsterdam (1885). This is an exceptionally beautiful series of photos, with Gustaaf presenting his subject optimally not only in compositional terms, but also with theatrical effect. This series proves beyond doubt that Gustaaf had mastered his profession by as early as 1885, and was likewise capable of purposefully conveying his subjects furnished with his own personal stamp. In addition to incidental photos of monumental civic works in Amsterdam in the years after 1885, there exists a series of photos in a large format depicting the construction of the Amsterdam-Merwede Canal. The construction work carried out along this canal in the period 1887 to 1892, as well as the building of bridges, sluices, steam pumping stations, and the replacement of the existing railway lines, are all photographed at locations in the vicinity of Gorinchem, Maarssen, Breukelen, Nigtevecht, Weesp, and Amsterdam. J.G. Hameter took photographs depicting the steel railway bridge construction that occurred during the digging of the Amsterdam-Merwede Canal—Gustaaf Oosterhuis photographed the remainder of the construction.

During this same period, Gustaaf photographed the construction of the drainage canal to the east of Amsterdam. This type of landscape photography quite often failed to produce photogenic images, resulting from the frequent excess of horizontal lines within the frame of the image, such as encountered when digging a water channel in a flat landscape. By having large groups of workers pose for the shot, Oosterhuis nevertheless managed to achieve a balanced play of lines when handling subjects of this nature. Workers can be seen standing far to the rear, with all eyes aimed at the camera. In combination with the absence of movement, there is a stillness to these images, which gives them an unreal quality.

One of Gustaaf Oosterhuis’ major clients was the shipyard company Conrad in Haarlem, for whom Pieter also photographed in his latter years. Another of Gustaaf’s important clients was the NSM (Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij, ‘Netherlands Ship-Building Association’) in Amsterdam starting in 1894, the year in which the shipyard was founded. Presumably, Gustaaf’s clientele also included companies specialised in the wooden furnishing of passenger ship interiors.

The large number of surviving photos shot on assignment for the NSM indicates this company is certain to have been Gustaaf Oosterhuis’ biggest client. Besides images of the shipyard itself, the earliest storage warehouse, and the expansions that followed, there are also shots of ships in various stages of construction, right up until the moment of their launching.

One series of four photos depicts the official launching of the S.S. Farnsum in 1902: the grandstand with invited guests standing next to the ship on the ramp; the moment of the breaking of the bottle of champagne; the sliding of the ship into the water; and the public descending from the grandstand immediately after the launch. The different shots—each photographed from exactly the same camera angle—are taken in rapid sequence. Oosterhuis could not possibly have changed the glass plates of a single camera in such a short period of time. He is therefore certain to have worked with two cameras. Other photos by Oosterhuis showing the various stages of shipbuilding go far beyond the purely informative nature of an industrial photo. He sometimes placed obstacles in the foreground intentionally, so as to strengthen the composition of his main topic. On occasion, he also took maximum advantage of the incoming daylight striking the hull of a ship under construction, thus creating a sacral atmosphere.

Gustaaf Oosterhuis’ final photo is very likely to have been taken on 1 September 1932 (the M.S. Tarn, Building No. 225). Gustaaf stopped taking photos at the age of 74, at which time his assistant G. Regter took over the activities of the NSM under his own name.

There is nothing to indicate that Gustaaf Oosterhuis was ever actively involved in a photographic organisation of any kind. Perhaps he was active in photographers’ circles in some other way. Only once is he known to have submitted an (awarded) entry to an exhibition organised by the Haarlemsche Amateur Fotografen Club (‘Haarlem Amateur Photographers Club’) in 1893. But Gustaaf was not the photographer awarded with a silver medal in the ‘A’ category (professional photographers)—it was his father P. Oosterhuis instead!

Documentation