Biography

Discussion

As a photographer, Hans Wolf’s development was shaped by the artistic political climate of the 1930s. Wolf had never received any training in the traditional sense. His formation was much more a consequence of the activities and ideals of the world in which he lived. Wolf’s initial choice of profession—violin builder—proved unachievable.

Via Mark Kolthoff, who worked as an assistant on Joris Ivens’ film for the ANB (Algemene Nederlandse Bouwvakarbeidersbond, ‘General Netherlands Construction Workers Federation’), Wolf was assigned the task of transferring Ivens’ film montages onto negative material—a technique used used to make multiple copies of a film. Employed by ‘Studio Joris Ivens’, Wolf also oversaw the library. It was in these inspiring surroundings that he came into contact with Russian films and the work of innovators such as Many Ray and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. In addition, he found a confirmation for his dormant left-wing leanings.

During this period, Wolf’s technical training consisted of a class in developing technique.

Wolf worked as an assistant cameraman on Jean Dréville’s film Pomme d’amour (‘Apple of Love’) in Paris. When his career in the film industry stranded due to the economic crisis, he purchased a second-hand folding camera to try his fortune in photography. Because he had no access to a darkroom or the material necessary to develop and print film on his own, in late 1932 Wolf found employment with an (unknown) portrait photographer in Paris.

With respect to intention and aesthetic, Wolf’s first photographic experiments were similar to what was being produced by the ‘New Photographers’. These photos were published in the magazine Filmliga (‘Film League’). With them, Wolf gained notoriety and recognition among members of the Dutch photographic avant-garde. Upon returning to the Netherlands, he worked for a year as an assistant to Piet Zwart, and as such, he found himself in the Dutch avant-garde environment, where artistic experimentation and political activism went hand in hand. Wolf’s next step was to establish himself as an independent photographer.

An emphatically left-wing view of society is one of the motives behind Hans Wolf’s work throughout his life. In late 1929, he established a Dutch chapter of the ‘Les amis de Monde’ (‘Friends of Monde‘), together with his brother-in-law Mark Kolthoff, who was married to Hettie Wolf. This friends’ club, set up to discuss articles in the French cultural weekly Monde, also drew a number of prominent communists, including David Wijnkoop.

In 1931, Wolf became a member of the VAF (Vereeniging van Arbeidersfotografen, ‘Association of Worker Photographers’), for which he also photographed during his holidays, only in the years 1932 to 1934. In the late 1930s, Wolf lived at the ‘Gemeenschapshuis’ (‘Community House’) in Voorburg, the living community set up by students of Paul Schuitema, where anti-fascist activities played an important role. Wolf took part in protests and demonstrations against the dictatorial regime of General Franco. He took photographs of this in order to confront the public with the atrocities occurring in Spain.

During World War II, Wolf—being both a Jew and a communist—was obliged to go into hiding. Yet he still worked as a photographer on illegal publications as well as with the PersoonsBewijzenCentrale (‘Identity Papers Centre’). Even after the war, Wolf was very active politically, both in his work and outside it: as a photographer for De Waarheid (‘The Truth’) in the 1950s, as a member of the CPH (Communistische Partij Holland, ‘Communist Party of the Netherlands’), and later as a member of the peace movement. Although he was a principled and very fervent communist, he was not blind to the failures of the Soviet system. His openly shared sympathies, however, seriously affected his ability to obtain lasting working agreements and commissions, especially during the years of the Cold War. Disappointed by the obstacles encountered in trying to realise his plans for a photobook of children’s portraits, Wolf decided to become a French teacher in 1957. After completing his study in 1962, he abandoned photography once and for all. Wolf’s political involvement continued undiminished until his poor health forced him to withdraw.

Wolf’s earliest work is characterised by a diversity of camera angles, an investigation of the effect of light, and an eye for details and structures. In terms of form and content, it bears similarities to the New Photography that had taken shape in the late 1920s/early 1930s in the Netherlands. The activities of the VAF, of which Wolf was a member, mark the transition in the Netherlands from experimental ‘thing-oriented’ photography to the socially committed ‘people-oriented’ photography of the late 1930s and the post-war period. Like the photographers Eva Besnyö, Cas Oorthuys, and Carel Blazer, Wolf was quick to focus on the depiction of people in their social surroundings and attached the somewhat parodic name ‘de nieuwe hartelijkheid’ (‘the new hospitality’) to this new orientation. The VAF presented itself as a collective. In general, photos were published without author citation, so that it is virtually impossible to attribute shots in magazines such as AFweerfront (‘Resistance Front’) and Tribune, to the extent that they have been preserved, to any one specific worker photographer.

An occasional preserved shot, such as ‘the home eviction of an elderly couple’, affirms that Wolf fully supported the notions that Paul Schuitema professed in regard to ‘photography as a weapon in the class struggle’. This photo shows a man in bed with his wife at the head of it. The somewhat diagonal composition draws one’s eye to the intense facial expression of these two elderly people. In its simplicity and directness, the image serves as a poignant complaint against a social system gone wrong.

Virtually from the very start, Hans Wolf was a member of the GKf (Gebonden Kunsten Federatie, vakgroep fotografie, ‘United Arts Federation, Department of Photography’), the photographer’s association that gave reportage photography in the Netherlands an identity of its own in the years of the Reconstruction following the war. In terms of the mentality behind it, Wolf’s work was completely in line with the ‘documentary humanism’ that this group aimed to achieve. An excellent example of Wolf’s ‘new hospitality’ is his shot of an elderly couple on the Roetersstraat in Amsterdam: besides a great sense of composition, it radiates an intense eye for human interest and highly expressive detail.

Wolf’s political involvement went hand in hand with a substantial degree of personal humility. This quality is one explanation for why he always remained somewhat in the background. Characteristic is the story of Edward Steichen’s visit to the GKf. As curator of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Steichen was in the Netherlands seeking images for his exhibition The Family of Man. To the dismay of Emmy Andriesse, Wolf felt that his own work was unworthy of being shown to Steichen. As a consequence, his work was not shown at this exhibition.

After the war, Hans Wolf worked for an extended period as a reportage photographer for the newspaper De Waarheid and ‘Eska’, a publishing company responsible for various periodicals. In addition, he photographed for the NVB (Nederlandse Vrouwenbeweging, ‘Netherlands Women’s Movement’) and the EVC (Eenheidsvakcentrale, ‘Unity Trade Union Centre’). He also did theatrical photography. Many of these shots are documents taken by a man whose perspective on the Reconstruction was more critical than the view commonly held by others. In the 1950s, Wolf photographed communist protests and meetings, as well as demonstrations, such as those opposed to the atomic bomb. The significance of these photos lies primarily in the loaded historical meaning and the position of social commitment that they entail.

Wolf’s notoriety and place in Dutch photography is chiefly based on his portrait photography, and then specifically his children’s portraits. Both on assignment and his own initiative—before and after World War II—Wolf photographed children from the day they were born until they reached puberty. These photos often convey a tremendous spontaneity. Using his sense of humour, Wolf was very good at winning a child’s trust. In so doing, he managed to capture highly intriguing images that were natural and yet formal. This is apparent, for instance, in one of Wolf’s best-known photos, entitled ‘Rik Jungman en zijn hond’ (‘Rik Jungman and his Dog’), in which the low camera angle refers back to the New Photography of the 1930s.

The relatively large number of children’s photos that have been preserved, and the renown that this work has received, stems chiefly from a photobook that Wolf once hoped to publish in the 1950s. To this end, he made large quantities of prints. Today, many of these photos are found in Dutch collections. Clearly, Wolf felt that this was his most interesting and personal photographic work. It is exceptionally tragic that this project—which was in an advanced stage, with plans for Cornelis Kelk to write the accompanying text and a contractual agreement already signed by the publishing firm ‘Paris’—never came to fruition, for reasons that have never been entirely clarified. Wolf himself believed that his personal political convictions were to blame. In terms of quantity, Work’s reportage work is significant. Its exact quality, however, cannot be readily determined due to the absence of authorship citation in publications and the fact that many of his negatives were handed over to those who had commissioned his work.

Wolf as well worked as a theatrical photographer on an incidental basis for the theatrical companies Amsterdamse Comedie (‘Amsterdam Comedy’), the GG-Cabaret, and the Scapino Ballet. Among the many rather conventional shots (staged living room scenes), there were also several images that, in their approach, reflected post-war innovations in theatrical photography such as found in the work of the Particam photographers (Aart Klein, Maria Austria). In his best theatrical photos—just as in his children’s photography—Wolf managed to avoid blatant poses, instead preferring to capture a certain dynamic, or by contrast, an intense sereneness.

Hans Wolf’s relatively modest oeuvre is important for the history of Dutch photography for various reasons. His early work illustrates the charm and vitality of New Photography’s desire for experimentation. In terms of vision, it falls under this movement. As a photographer, his most personal area of work lay in his children’s portraits. Finally, Wolf’s reportage work conveys—in addition to his skill—two aspects of a photographic mentality that gives his work historical significance and context: integrity and social engagement.

Documentation