Own

by Erwin Olaf

Catalogus bij het werk van de Nederlandse fotograaf (1959).

Genres: Photography, Art

368 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2012

About the author

Erwin Olaf was an internationally exhibiting artist whose diverse practice centered around society’s marginalized individuals, including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019 Olaf became a Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands after 500 works from his oeuvre were added to the collection of the Rijksmuseum. Taco Dibbits, Rijksmuseum director, called Olaf “one of the most important photographers of the final quarter of the 20th century”.

In 2018, Olaf completed a triptych of monumental photographic and filmic tableaux portraying periods of seismic change in major world cities, and the citizens embraced and othered by their urban progress. Like much of his work, it is contextualized by complex race relations, the devastation of economic divisions, and the complications of sexuality. Olaf has maintained an activistic approach to equality throughout his 40-year career after starting out documenting pre-AIDS gay liberation in Amsterdam’s nightlife in the 1980s.

A bold and sometimes controversial approach has earned the artist a number of prestigious collaborations, from Vogue and Louis Vuitton, to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. He served as the official portrait artist for the Dutch royal family in 2017, and designed the national side of the euro coins for King Willem-Alexander in 2013. He has been awarded the Netherlands’ prestigious Johannes Vermeer Award, as well as Photographer of the Year at the International Color Awards, and Kunstbeeld magazine’s Dutch Artist of the Year.

Erwin Olaf has exhibited worldwide, including Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Málaga, Spain; Museu da Imagem e do Som, São Paulo, Brazil; Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany; Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile. In the spring of 2019, Olaf’s work was the subject of a double exhibition at Kunstmuseum The Hague and The Hague Museum of Photography, as well as a solo exhibition at the Shanghai Center of Photography and an exhibition at The Rijkmuseum of Amsterdam. In 2021, he will mount solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle München, Germany; the Suwon Museum of Art, Suwon, Korea. Olaf’s work is included in numerous private and public collections, such as the Rijksmuseum and Stedelijk Museum, both in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, The Netherlands, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, United States; Art Progressive Collection, United States, and the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia.

Reviews

[Sander van der Heide · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how a photography book should be done. All the works arranged in series and almost every photo presented on one page, with a blank page beside it. The number of page spreads are limited, but I understand the choice to present them this way. The titles of the photos and the year is mentioned at the last page of the book and some explanation in the beginning. For the rest, the works of Erwin Olaf speak for themselves and lots of iconic stuff is included in this collection of works between 1984 en 2012. I found this book in the public library and was happy I could borrow it for a while. You can still find some copies online, but expect to pay around 200 euro for a used copy.

Production Value: outstanding, high quality paper and superb prints
Cover: Keyhole (2011)
Photo-Text Ratio: 10 to 1
Appeal: If you like photobooks, you’ll love this
Captivation: flip pages from series to series
Overall Score: 9 out of 10
Buy, borrow or bury: Buy or borrow

[Bert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prachtig boek, de achtergrond van een aantal collecties wordt uitgelegd . Mooi foto’s die een verhaal vertellen en je mee neemt in de sfeer die Erwin Olaf wil creëren.

[Bram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Groot boek met foto’s uit de periode 1984-2012. Helaas is de opbouw niet geheel chronologisch, maar de foto’s staan wel per serie bij elkaar. De foto’s zijn lekker groot afgedrukt en krijgen steeds alle aandacht, informatie staat per beeld achterin. Het viel mij op dat van de serie ‘Mind of their own’ uit 1995 niets werd opgenomen. Het is misschien een ietwat problematische serie, maar het voelt vreemd dat het in dit overzicht helemaal ontbreekt.