The exhibition Amsterdam voor het voorbij is brought together a selection of photographs from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s. It was a unique exhibition by an unconventional photographer, covering an equally remarkable period in Amsterdam’s history.
Amsterdam photographer Dolf Toussaint (1924-2017) roamed the streets of Amsterdam with his camera from the 1960s onward, creating vivid portraits of its residents. He had an exceptional ability to portray people in their social surroundings. Without romanticizing them, and always with humor, he photographed children in the street, pub patrons, and workers. This is beautifully demonstrated in his celebrated photobook De Jordaan (1965).
In the early 1950s, while still working as a journalist, Toussaint wrote articles about the growth of industry and business. When the accompanying photographer once failed to appear, Toussaint picked up the camera himself. He immediately felt at home in photography and began pursuing his own work alongside assignments for industry and advertising.
I have a strong need to hold on to things and record them
His first major documentary photobook was De Jordaan (1965). His striking portrayal of the Jordaan’s residents suddenly made him a famous photographer. In the following years, he gained national recognition for a new approach to parliamentary photography: lively images that revealed the person behind the politician.
Toussaint drew inspiration from great photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau. People in their social context were always central to the work of the socially engaged Toussaint. Urban renewal also mattered deeply to him, an important motivation he expressed in a 1965 article in Het Vrije Volk: ‘I have a strong need to hold on to things and record them, [ ... ] to try to get a foot in the door of time. It is a resistance to transience.’
This need resulted in an enormous collection of photographs and negatives, which has been preserved by the Amsterdam City Archives since 2017. The valuable collection, spanning the 1950s to around 2000, presents a multifaceted view of Amsterdam in the second half of the twentieth century.
Amsterdam voor het voorbij is presented Toussaint’s Amsterdam work. The exhibition included his early photography from the 1960s, his famous Jordaan photographs, street photography from the 1970s, and reports on the social unrest in the city during the 1970s and 1980s.
Amsterdam voor het voorbij is
Photographs by Dolf Toussaint
Exhibition from 13 July to 4 November 2018
Amsterdam City Archives
