Biography

Discussion

We will never have a complete overview of Jan Kamman’s photographic oeuvre in its entirety. During the bombardment of the centre of Rotterdam on 14 May 1940, Kamman’s home was completely destroyed. With it, his studio and archive were also lost. Only at the last moment did he manage to get himself, his wife Dine, and their cat Siem into safety. It was such a traumatic experience for Kamman that he never took the trouble to fully organise his photographic work from during and after the war. Instead, he preferred to draw and paint.

Kamman was the son of a photographer and learned the profession from his father. His desire, however, was to be an artist. He therefore chose for a solid education in painting at the ABK (Academie van Beeldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen, ‘Academy of Visual Arts and Technical Sciences’) in Rotterdam. During his study, he participated in all kinds of artists’ initiatives in the city. Together with Hendrik Chabot, Adrie van der Plas, Wout van Heusden and Leendert Bolle, Kamman followed the developments in painting and sculpture such as found in the work of artists’ groups such as Die Brücke (‘The Bridge’) and Der Blaue Reiter (‘The Blue Knight’), German artistic movements that were not yet well known in the Netherlands. Together with Chabot and Van der Plas, Kamman came into contact with various artists’ associations. They placed their work on exhibit at De Rotterdammers in 1923 and at De Branding in 1924. Their exhibitions received important publicity. Of the three men, however, Chabot’s work drew the most attention.

It was Paul Schuitema who introduced Kamman to the meetings of the Opbouw. This association was founded in 1920 in Rotterdam by the architect Willem Kromhout. Its purpose was to serve as a meeting point for architects and artists. In its early period, the association’s primary concern was a mutual exchange of ideas through lectures, exhibitions, and field trips. It remains unclear whether Kamman was actually a member of Opbouw.

The new concepts and visions that were discussed within the association are certain to have affected Kamman greatly. They are possibly influential for the turning point in his life when, in 1925, he ended his painting career and established himself as a professional photographer. Initially, Kamman’s portrait photos were taken at his studio. He also made portraits of his friends on special occasions, such as the engagement portrait of Hendrik Chabot and Antonia Tolenaars in 1927. As time progressed, Kamman began to receive numerous commissions mainly through his circle of contacts at Opbouw, but with mixed success. As such, Kamman worked very closely with Paul Schuitema for several years. Schuitema was experimenting with photography’s implementation in advertising. He rarely took photographs himself, and for this reason, Kamman took photos for him.

For the advertising booklet De lokkende magneet trekt koopers (‘The Attracting Magnet Draws Buyers’), released by the company Toledo-Berkel, Kamman took photos of weighing scales, which Schuitema then cut into pieces, combining them with other images and coloured surfaces. Kamman was not the one to execute these compositions, but it was through this work that he became aware of the photomontage technique. There is some doubt regarding the duration of Kamman’s collaboration with the lamp and furniture manufacturer Willem Gispen. What is known is that Kamman photographed the lamps for catalogue Nos. 25 and 26 and that he made the photo for the Giso lamp poster in that same year. Gispen clearly showed his admiration for Kamman’s photography by using the photo Groep Lenzen (‘Group Lenses’) to illustrate his article ‘Techniek en kunst’ (‘Technique and Art’), which was published in the magazine Wendingen.

One recurring element in Jan Kamman’s oeuvre are the architectural photos that L.C. van der Vlugt commissioned him to take starting around 1926. Kamman photographed the most important buildings designed by the architectural firm of Brinkman and Van der Vlugt until about 1940. The purpose of the photos was to document the construction process. Kamman did this by taking a number of shots during construction, from the foundation to its completion, and several images of the interior. The photos were intended primarily as working material for the architectural firm. It is for this reason that, even to this day, the photo albums are still referred to as workbooks. The photos were also used as presentation material. The most characteristic shots were selected to show the firm’s building accomplishments. They were also frequently used as illustration material for various publications, such as the magazine, De 8 en Opbouw. In the early years, Kamman’s name was not mentioned with the photos. This did occur several times starting in 1934, but not consistently.

Although Kamman was bound to creating a ‘respectable’ representation of the architecture, he also displayed his own vision in line with the ideas of New Photography. Typical of his work is the perspective-like angle from which he photographed the object: they appear to be influenced by the perspective drawings of his clients. Kamman tended to place the building in a stark light-and-dark contrast, which he intensified with a perfect print quality. In so doing, the pure building volumes and sharp contours of the constructions of Modern architecture were represented optimally. Kamman’s manner of photographing suited the taste of many of the architects who were involved in Modern architecture. Consequently, he was an influential architectural photographer in great demand. When at the beginning of the 1930s a trend seemed to be emerging in which children were being used to represent Modern architecture’s optimistic vision of the future—e.g. as demonstrated by Schuitema’s cover for De 8 en Opbouw, No. 13, 24 June 1932—Kamman introduced this concept almost immediately in his own photographic images.

Several photos of the Parklaan apartment building that Kamman shot for the architects Van Tijen and Van der Broek feature Van Tijen’s daughter, Willemien. The little girl is standing on the building’s roof terrace overlooking the harbour of Rotterdam, with two prestigious passenger ships of the Holland America Line docked at the Wilhelmina Pier. Kamman had no need of photomontage, but instead combined the architecture of the Modern movement with symbols of dynamic modern living in the very same image, as well including himself as a silhouette directing the shot. Admittedly, Willemien is likely to have spent a great deal of time posing for this image: different shots are known that were published in several architectural magazines. The reportage on the Parklaan apartment building as well included informative photos, such as images of the entire building seen from street level, a detail of a stairway railing and interior photos.

Through his activities for the architectural firm Brinkman and Van der Vlugt, Jan Kamman came into contact in 1927 with the director and builder of the Van Nelle factory, Cees van der Leeuw. The new addition of this modern construction to this factory for coffee, tea and tobacco was already well under way. In 1925, Van der Leeuw had commissioned Evert van Ojen to document the factory’s construction. It would not stop him, however, from commissioning Kamman to photograph the building process. Documenting and recording the same building structure in such great detail over a period of a number of years is certain to have inspired Kamman to make combination prints. He applied this technique not simply to illustrate the transition from the old brick factory building to a new, transparent structure made of glass, steel and concrete, but rather to accentuate the characteristic visual language of the Modern movement in architecture.

Kamman’s experiment was based on a simple technique using only a few negatives. He laid two or three glass plate negatives on top of each other and then exposed them to light. In doing so, he was able to mirror or repeat an architectural detail that he had chosen. The total image negative was always his starting point. The manner in which the negatives overlapped or were shifted in relation to each other was what determined the final product.

Much of Kamman’s commissioned advertising work has been lost. Thanks to the article ‘Industrieele Fotokunst’, which the critic Otto van Tussenbroek published in De Groene Amsterdammer, a number of examples have survived of the product presentations that he made for the trading company Handelsmaatschappij R.S. Stokvis en Zonen. The direct client who commissioned this work was the advertising head, E. van Moerkerken. Kamman worked with his approval. The photographic images that he made were completely in the style of New Photography. By arranging the objects in a clear way, the photographic image gained a dynamic appearance. Regardless of whether the subject concerned sharpening stones, wood screws or bike lights, Kamman ordered the individual objects in rhythmic series in order to illustrate these mass-produced, industrial products. As such, each individual object—piece by piece—is recognisable down to the very last detail: the raw surface of the sharpening stones, the spiralling threads of the upright flat-top screws and the shining head lamps. Now matter how preconceived the composition may appear, nothing is more important than the objects depicted. In later commissions, Kamman appears to be somewhat less ‘commercial’. Such as an advertisement for Stokvis using a staged tabletop photo: a landscape with a wooden toy train crossing over a pile of sand with several dry branches on either side. (This photo belongs to the collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, the advertisement itself has not been found).

The advertisements that Kamman designed for a number of contracting firms resemble each other significantly. He applied photomontage, which enabled him to especially show the technical and dynamic aspects of building. The page spread was filled with fragments of the building skeleton, steel mesh for reinforced concrete and the formwork. Labourers bending down at their work completed the image. Such was the look of the full-page advertisements for Boele & van Eesteren that appeared in De 8 en Opbouw in 1934. One year later, Kamman implemented practically the same compositional elements in the advertisements for the Rotterdam building contractor, Volker.

In 1935, Kamman was also commissioned to design the brochure 15 jaar bouwen, 1920-1935, in the same style for the Rotterdam contractor NV bouw- en aannemingsbedrijf v/h Kwaaitaal. C. Chevalier did the printing, the printing company that Kamman worked for and the firm that was likely to have arranged this commission. In the brochure’s fifteen double-page spreads—with a photomontage on the left and a description on the right—Kamman provided insight into the wide range of activity provided by this contracting company. He was at his best when providing examples of architectural design in the style of Modern architecture: implementing photomontages to combined with characteristic details of the structure with parts of the formwork, the building skeleton, and toiling labourers. The churches and schools that were built by the same client in a more traditional style inspired Kamman to a lesser degree.

Several years later, in 1938, Kamman began making advertisements once again for the contracting firm Van Eesteren. Here he chose for a less complicated approach, by simply taking a building designed by a leading architectural firm that sparked the imagination, and using it as an eye-catcher, such as the Plaslaan apartment building in the Kralingen neighbourhood of Rotterdam, designed by the architects, Van Tijen and Maaskant.

Kamman exhibited his work primarily at group exhibitions. Time and again he was able to distinguish himself from his fellow exhibitors. The first exhibition in which he participated was the annual members’ exhibition of the Rotterdam branch of the NFPV (Nederlandse Fotografen Patroonsvereeniging, ‘Netherlands Photographers’ Guild’), held on 8 July 1927. It was here that Kamman first exhibited several photograms, something that had never been done before within this conservative association. An article in Bedrijfsfotografie (‘Corporate Photography’) devoted significant attention to the young photographer’s entry.

Jan Kamman outlined his ideas on the new possibilities that photography had to offer in the article ‘De ontwikkeling der fotografie in vrije aesthetische richting’ (‘The Development of Photography in a Free Aesthetic Direction’), appearing in the magazine Bedrijfsfotografie. He called photography: ‘Light-Image Art [‘Lichtbeeldkunst’]. Therefore, by means of light, images, that is, creating something on material that is sensitive to light. The use of the camera, lens, etc., doesn’t detract from this, nor does it matter. The image is formed by light and the absence of light, with gradual, different, successive tints in between.’ His arguments also included concepts such as ‘abstract beauty’, ‘pure aesthetics’ and ‘picture-free images’. The tenets of New Photography’s propagators—Moholy Nagy and Man Ray—can be heard throughout. Kamman knew his classics.

In the same issue of Bedrijfsfotografie, a photogram was also included. It was the photograms that drew the largest response, and consequently, in a second article Kamman explained extensively how he made the photogram, step by step. He took further advantage of this interest in his work by having the same article published once again in the magazine, Focus.

In these years, Kamman was actively involved in photographic trade associations. During a board election of the Rotterdam branch of the NFPV, held on 3 March 1928 at Café Restaurant La Paix on the Coolsingel, Kamman Sr. made his appeal for ‘young energy on the board’. Leen van Oudgaarden and Jan Kamman Jr. were subsequently chosen as board members, dividing the various tasks between each other. Kamman felt it was extremely important to keep his fellow photographers up to date regarding the newest innovations in photography. In the lecture ‘Een fotografische cocktail’ (‘A Photographic Cocktail’), presented to a number of (professional) associations, including the NAFV (Nederlandse Amateur Fotografen Vereniging, ‘Netherlands Amateur Photographers Association’), Kamman addressed primarily the modern movements.

Kamman’s commissions for the furniture and lamp designer Gispen would also lead to an exhibition. In his position as the chairman of the Rotterdamsche Kring (‘Rotterdam Society’), Gispen pushed for an exhibition of Kamman’s work. The view of the art committee, however, was somewhat subtler. Berssenbrugge, Van Oudgaarden, and Schuitema were subsequently also invited to participate. The exhibition Moderne Fotokunst (‘Modern Photo Art’) was held from 5 to 19 January 1929 in the exhibition space of the Rotterdamsche Kring at Eendrachtsweg 12 in Rotterdam. Gispen opened the exhibition with the lecture ‘Fotokunst’ (‘Photo Art’). Not all the reviews were positive. One exception was the chief editor of Bedrijfsfotografie, Adriaan Boer, who described the work of Kamman and Schuitema as ‘modern’. In Kamman’s article, ‘Moderne Fotografie’ (‘Modern Photography’), which was featured in the December 1928 issue of Lux-De Camera, Kamman criticised the negative reactions to his and Paul Schuitema’s work: ‘With modern photography, we are supposed to think of it, not so much as a genre, but rather as a complex of possibilities. It includes the product of the photo-machine just as easily as microphotography, and both the reportage photo and the portrait. Modern photography throws all the previously learned conventional concepts of aesthetics, all the rusty old perspectives, overboard. The consequence of this is: to see each thing in the most characteristic way possible within the spiritual and social relationship of the moment (…) What is impossible today, can happen tomorrow. The modern photographer sees and acknowledges this. Consequently, his work is experimental for the most part. The point of modern photography is not just about producing prints that are more or less pleasing, but about making studies. (…) It can make the flowing currents of life tangible through its suggestive possibilities. Its motto is: “Everything is a source of beauty, nothing is inferior.” To do this, however, we must observe things with new interest, with an open-minded eye.’

Four months later, Jan Kamman took part—at the invitation of Piet Zwart—in the international exhibition Film und Foto (Fifo, ‘Film and Photo’), which was being organised by the Deutsche Werkbund (‘German Labour Federation’) in Stuttgart, Germany. Kamman’s entry comprised fourteen photos. The actual photos have not been preserved, but the exhibition listings still exist. Based on titles such as Architectuur (‘Architecture’), Gloeilampen (‘Light Bulbs’), and Machineonderdelen (‘Machine Parts’), we are able to form an idea of Kamman’s entry. As a result of this exhibition, the photo Architectuur—a combination print depicting the Van Nelle factory—was published in Franz Roh and Jan Tsichold’s groundbreaking book Foto-Auge (‘Photo-Eye’).

Kamman’s first and only solo exhibition in 1933 at Studio 32 in Rotterdam signalled a breakthrough in appreciation for New Photography in general, but also for his own work. The critic of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant observed: ‘(…) in the hand of the artist, the camera is just as much a tool of his creative ability as paint and brush or whatever implement. (…) It is the gift of the artist that Kamman is, that he has indeed done more than photograph bottles, nuts and wrenches, that he has placed these representations in such a manner within the photographic plane, that they form only ideal proportions (…)’ While the photos were described as being ‘abstract’ in the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, the reviewer in Bedrijfsfotografie provides a description of the works displayed in a concise wording showing that he knew better: ‘An abstract photo is, namely, a photogram. And at the exhibition only good documentary work was to be seen, no photograms.’ The review was illustrated with four photos: Waschtafelhoek (‘Wash Basin Corner’), Schakelaars (‘Switches’), Portret (‘Portraits’) and Radiozendlampen (‘Radio Transmitter Tubes’). In retrospect, it seems that with this convincing presentation, it was as if Kamman was saying goodbye to his free, experimental work.

Around 1930, Kamman was hired as an instructor of photography and ‘Toepassing van Fotografie in de Reclame’ (‘The Application of Photography in Advertising’) at the ABK in Rotterdam. This position enabled him to pass on his knowledge, vision and craftsmanship to countless numbers of students for generations to come (including Steef Zoetmulder, who took his classes in 1933). In doing so, Kamman contributed—just as Zwart, Schuitema and Gerrit Kiljan—to the dissemination of a modern view of photography in the Netherlands. It is possible that Kamman made his autonomous work secondary to his teaching, perhaps explaining why he chose not to participate in Foto ’37, the retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Certain is that the exhibition committee requested that Kamman submit work for the category De foto in dienst van de mode, reclame en propaganda (‘The Photo in the Service of Fashion, Advertising and Propaganda’), to be held in exhibition space No. 4. Nowhere is there any mention, however, of Kamman’s name in the catalogue and reviews.

The second half of the 1930s was a relatively calm period for Kamman, with no events of significance. In 1937, his parents left Schiedam, and subsequently, he moved his photo studio into his own home in Rotterdam.

Kamman consciously promoted himself as a specialist in architectural and advertising photography. He also resumed with his painting. As a member of the artists’ association R33, Kamman took part in the annual retrospective held at the Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam in April 1940, presenting the painting De oude diergaarde in den winter (‘The Old Zoo in the Winter’).

During the bombardment of the Rotterdam city centre on 14 May 1940, Kamman lost all of his possessions. This dramatic event would prove to influence the further course of his life. After a while, he returned to his work. Initially, he worked with a borrowed Rolleiflex, taking photos of the destruction in the city, such as the piles of debris surrounding the St. Lawrence Church, which had been spared. After the clean-up, plans were made for new construction projects. Exigency stores emerged at a rapid tempo. The style of this specialty architecture contrasted with that of Modern architecture. Although Kamman was commissioned to photograph these structures, his personal involvement appears to have changed. Another consideration was that, with a growing number of architectural photographers, there was now greater competition.

On 7 December 1940, Kamman made a reportage during the official opening of Diergaarde Blijdorp (the Rotterdam zoo) on behalf of the architect Van Ravesteyn. The photos were published in a commemorative book. Revealing distinct camera angles and a noticeable light and dark contrast, Kamman convincingly proved himself capable of registering Van Ravesteyn’s idiosyncratic architectural style. His wife Dine can also occasionally be seen in these photos. Should this be interpreted as an example of human scale or a personal tint introduced by the photographer?

The managing board of the Maatschappij Havenherstel NV commissioned Kamman to take photos for a book commemorating the rebuilding of the Rotterdam sea harbours. During the bombardments of September 1944, the docksides of the harbours had been completely destroyed. For the city’s economy, the reconstruction of the harbours was paramount. It was a large-scale project involving various building contractors. Kamman took photographs of the destruction: desolate landscapes filled with large pieces of concrete, twisted rails and collapsed storage buildings. His next step was to photograph the reconstruction itself. Just as in his previous work, Kamman emphasised the dynamics of building. In all probability, it was one of the last commissions he received. The book was published in 1949.

Stemming from a tremendous public interest in architecture, architectural photos these days are studied from all kinds of angles. Architectural photography has become a popular genre within the overall field of photography, with its history being described extensively around the world. Because Jan Kamman’s architectural photos are what draws the greatest attention when it comes to his overall photographic productivity, in today’s publications he is described primarily as an architectural photographer. As such, the Photographers’ Gallery in London exhibited a combination print of the Van Nelle factory in 1991. In 1993, the graphic designer Wim Crouwel, chose a similar photographic experiment for his farewell exhibition 1928: schoonheid en transparantie, logica en vernuft (‘1928: Beauty and Transparency, Logic and Ingenuity’).

The description of Cervin Robinson and Joel Herschman perhaps best illustrates how Jan Kamman has been perceived up to this time. Their 1987 book, entitled Architecture Transformed, features not a single reproduction of Kamman’s work. No, instead, they illustrated the statement ‘ (…) whose negatives and apparently all prints were destroyed in the bombing of Rotterdam (…)” with the magazine Casabella from 1938 opened to a page with Kamman’s photo of the roof terrace of the Parklaan apartment building curling up along the edges. The caption accompanying the photo is inaccurate, while the text itself requires correcting. After all, a presentation in this form suggests there is no longer any trace of Jan Kamman’s original photo material to be found. But nothing could be farther from the truth! Dispersed over a number of collections, approximately 300 original photos and dozens of negatives still exist. Once this material is assembled for comparison, a more accurate examination of Kamman’s oeuvre will be possible. When it comes to Kamman’s commissioned architectural photos, the recent donation made by the architectural firm Van den Broek and Bakema of the Geljon/Vrijhof Archive (the photo collection of their founders, Brinkman and Van der Vlugt) to the Nederlands Fotoarchief (‘Netherlands Photo Archive’) is an important first step in the right direction.

Locating Kamman’s advertising commissions, his autonomous work, and the photos he took of friends in the Rotterdam art world is a prerequisite for any reputable body of research. As long as this material is overlooked, the accent will continue to be placed on the architectural photos in Jan Kamman’s oeuvre.

The question that remains is how Kamman’s career would have looked had he not been living in the part of Rotterdam where the bombs were dropped. After all, it seems like such a small step from that photo on the rooftop terrace of the Parklaan apartment building to the photography of the Reconstruction in the 1950s.

Documentation