Biography

Discussion

Nico Zomer was a professional photographer in heart and soul, possessing clear ideas about his work and a down-to-earth look at life. He saw photography as a creative profession, with the techniques specific to photography determining artistic form and content. Zomer distrusted every form of art photography based on anything other than photographic norms. He also detested quasi-artistic endeavours. The field of graphics was also an area of special interest. Zomer became a skilled professional in the area of reprography, preceded only by Bernard Eilers.

From a young age, Nico Zomer was destined to work at his father’s printing company. There was no doubt he would attend the School voor Grafische Vakken (‘School of Graphics Courses’) in Utrecht once he had completed secondary school. After obtaining his ‘Master Printer’ diploma, Zomer held an internship position in the advertising department of the paper wholesaler Bührmann in Amsterdam. He eventually received several photography assignments while working at Bührmann, as it was known that he was an avid amateur photographer, and correspondingly, that his knowledge of the field was greater than anyone else’s. These assignments were ultimately what inspired him to continue with photography. Zomer wanted to take classes, but there were still no institutions teaching photography in the Netherlands at this point in time. It was for this reason that he decided to attend the Reimann Schule (‘Reimann School’) in Berlin, a private school more similar to an art academy than a technical college. At Reimann, the creative classes, taught by Dr. Otto Croy, were a very important part of the programme. Technical classes were also offered, but they were seen as ancillary rather than part of the institution’s primary aim.

Nico Zomer always believed that the mastery of technique was the basis of professional craftsmanship. His first desire was to get a good camera, and in 1928, he purchased a Rolleiflex, a revolutionary camera for its day. During his study at the Reimann Schule, Zomer never concealed his interest in technique. Together with one of his teachers, Gert Pfankuch, he experimented with the ‘pinatype’, a technique later completely forgotten. This process for making colour prints had been developed in 1905 by the Frenchman Léon Didier. It was a process based on the fact that certain acidic colour dyes are absorbed by unhardened gelatin, but not by gelatin hardened by light infiltration.

At the Reimann Schule, Zomer learned to work with different cameras, including a Stegemann, a Leica, and a Plaubel Makina. He expanded his knowledge greatly during two successive trips to the United States—first in the 1930s and a second time immediately after the war—during which he visited various photography studios, where the latest developments in colour photography were being applied. It was there that Zomer saw technical cameras for the first time. On his post-war trip, he returned with a Grover, which at the time was still unknown in Europe. Through his contacts in the States, Zomer had continuous access to the latest technical equipment and film types, sometimes years before these products were being imported into Europe.

Even during his studies, Zomer was already excited about colour photography. To perfect his skills in this area, he took a brief class at the Deutsches Lehrinstitut für Farbenphotographie (‘German Educational Institute for Colour Photography’) in the town of Hoechst, near Frankfurt am Main. Zomer continued his investigations in the area of colour upon establishing himself independently as an advertising and corporate photographer in 1934. Several years prior to the war, he had begun to experiment with ‘successive colour extractions’ on panchromatic black-and-white film: shots were taken of a non-moving subject with a red, green, blue, and an orange-like filter. These shots were then printed on top of each other in the colours greenish-blue, purple-red (magenta), yellow, and grey. The same working method is still used today in graphic reproduction. This technique with partial negatives could only be used with colour shots of non-moving objects, such as reproductions of paintings, interior shots, still lifes, advertising products etc.

Zomer’s results in the area of colour photography attracted the interest of the graphics company Joh. Enschedé in Haarlem. Because of his extensive knowledge of photographic and graphic techniques, Zomer and the company Enschedé ‘understood’ each other extremely well. This resulted in a collaborative contract that was greatly to Zomer’s personal benefit, helping him to financially weather the difficult years of the war. One or more days a week, Zomer would travel to Haarlem to work on the realisation of a graphic reproduction method for colour shots.

Enschedé was willing to invest in Zomer’s craftsmanship. In 1952, he was given his own studio on Enschedé’s grounds, which he was free to access at will, even when doing work for other clients. Obliged to give up his studio space three years later due to a necessary company expansion, he was subsequently offered a new space in a building on the Korte Begijnestraat, directly outside the Enschedé factory site. The new studio was not only exceptionally big, but it also had a vibration-free floor and a glass roof that could be shaded. In other words, it met all of the conditions necessary to do professional work.

Zomer’s photography—only a limited number of originals have been preserved—is characterised by its sharpness and perfection, encountered in both his shots and prints. He despised the ‘soft effect’: in Zomer’s view, an atmospheric photo could also be acquired by more honest means, as he showed in various shots of a misty landscape, taken with extreme sharpness. Zomer saw the expression of surface texture as photography’s strength. His compositions are concise: the eye can immediately discern the subject at hand. Zomer’s concentration on the main motif is achieved through camera positioning and lighting. He composed his photographs relying on these ingredients in combination with good taste.

Zomer’s commissioned photos shot on location—for instance, depicting a company’s production process—often feature close-ups, with raw materials or working hands depicted in the sharpest detail. Although it was not always possible for him to actualise his ideas to the highest degree when doing this kind of work, at no point did he betray his principles concerning photography. Zomer’s preference for uncanny sharpness and simple, serene entourages is also expressed in his portrait photography—a genre he practiced very infrequently—and his autonomous work, which consisted primarily of nature shots.

Zomer was specialised in an area of photography that was closely linked to the graphics industry: advertising and corporate photography. His choice to take this path was not only related to his background and education, but also his views concerning photography. Such views can clearly be seen in the techniques and designs he applied. Zomer formulated these concisely in a letter to his friend Meinard Woldringh dated 18 September 1951, today preserved in the Leiden University Print Room: ‘Art? Never. If anything, a small artistic trick, paltry and without any real life. Creative Photography? Absolutely! Meaning to say, and I can say it, as I am, in the end, more or less the spiritual father of this designation: not a random projection of what can be seen onto a flat surface, but penetrating to the very essence. The photographer has to come to a synthesis, elevating what is photographed beyond the realm of what is—unquestionably—observable. To do this, he has sufficient means at his disposal, of which the chief ones are: the boundaries of the image, the lighting thereof, his vision of the subject (camera angle/composition) and the ‘tonality’ in which he presents his product. The connection to the material, which is specific to photography and which results in a faithfulness to reality, nevertheless forces him to lay more restrictions on his choice of topics than artists, who are able to wield a more pliable medium than the camera lens. If he ignores this condition, than he surpasses his goal, violates the essence of Photography, loses himself in meaningless and useless experiments, with, at best, purported manifestations of art as the result.’ With these words, Zomer was rebelling against the post-war photography movements leaning towards abstraction and experimentation, which could easily have thrust photography into painting’s wake once again—whereas New Photography had finally managed to free itself from these restrictive ties in the 1930s. In 1951, Dr. Otto Steinert brought these post-war movements together for the first time in the exhibition ‘Subjektive Fotografie’ (‘Subjective Photography’). Photographers at the NFK (Nederlandse Fotografen Kunstkring, ‘Netherlands Photographers Art Society’) were divided in their views concerning photography. Pim van Os, for example, had proved himself to be a follower of the abstract, experimental movement. Nico Zomer, by contrast, adhered to the accomplishments of New Objectivity, making no concessions.

Immediately following the completion of his studies in Berlin, Zomer established himself as an independent entrepreneur in Amsterdam. In spite of the economic crisis, he managed to build a reputation in a relatively short time based on his ample knowledge of the field. Businesses were finding their way to his studio. Zomer’s commissions varied from making corporate reportages on location to photographing products in the studio. Zomer’s clients during this period included large companies such as Hazemeyer and Stork, both in Hengelo, the PGEM in Arnhem, the Utrechtse Electriciteits Mij. (‘Utrecht Electricity Company’), the Glasfabriek Leerdam (‘Leerdam Glass’), and a variety of shipping companies. Within three years, his studio on the Noorder Amstellaan in Amsterdam was too small and he was obliged to move to a larger building on the 1e Constantijn Huygensstraat.

Shortly after the war, Zomer received a large commission from the collector Van Beuningen to photograph his entire art collection. Later, this commission also led to similar assignments from collectors outside the Netherlands. For a period of ten years, Zomer also did the annual colour calendars for the weaving company Van Heek & Co. This work entailed traveling across the country to photograph landscapes, cities, and buildings.

In his ten years as a permanent employee at Enschedé, Zomer’s primary task was flower photography (chiefly bulb flowers), an extremely important area for the export market. He likewise accepted commissions for third parties on Enschedé’s behalf, such as calendars for KLM Airlines and reportages for large companies.

Zomer was closely involved in setting up the first educational programmes in photography in the Netherlands. In 1940, legislation for establishing business in the field of photography had gone into effect—a training programme in photography therefore became a legal obligation. It was in this same year that the Nederlandse Fotovakschool (‘NFVS’, ‘Netherlands Photography Vocational School’) was founded, chiefly through the efforts of Carel Tirion, Jan Stokvis, Nico Zomer, and Willy Schurman.

While the NFVS provided a written correspondence course that met the minimum legal requirements with respect to a knowledge of the field, there was still the need for a solid, clear-cut educational programme. It was for this reason that the same group of professional photographers—Tirion, Stokvis, Zomer, and Schurman—set out to establish a second learning institution. In 1953, this resulted in the founding of the ‘School voor Fotografie en Fototechniek’ (‘School of Photography and Photographic Technique’), which started out as an evening school but later also included a full-time day study programme starting in 1957. Zomer continued to be involved with both programmes through his membership in the school’s supervisory boards and examination committees. He did not do any teaching.

The final phase of Zomer’s photographic career was also in the area of photography education. After leaving the company Enschedé in 1966, he was hired as a photographic advisor at the ‘Famous Artists School’ in Amsterdam, an institution set up according to a model originating in the US. Here one could receive lessons in a variety of art disciplines via written correspondence courses. Zomer was hired to answer students’ questions and provide advice. He was nevertheless disappointed in the school’s working approach. It was at this time that he decided to end his career as a photographer. After this point, he photographed only for his own pleasure.

Nico Zomer’s photography can best be characterised as the work of a professional who strives for perfection, while possessing good taste. By nature more of a technician than an artist, he never felt tempted to pursue artistic aspirations in his photography, as this would most certainly have been a betrayal of his own principles.

Nico Zomer made his photographic mark through his pioneering activities in the area of colour photography in the Netherlands, particularly for use in the graphics industry. The company Enschedé has built a solid reputation in the Dutch printing and publishing world based on Zomer’s vast knowledge of technique in the field of photographic and graphic reproduction. For decades, Zomer devoted his time and energy to the organisation of photography education in the Netherlands. It is thanks to the selfless commitment of professionals like Zomer, Tirion, Stokvis, and Schurman that legally certified professional educational programmes in photography came into existence in the Netherlands.

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