Lady by Wim van der Poll
Discription: This portrait is unmistakably by van der Poll. He was a master in the use of light, both natural and artificial. If you browse the web, you will come across keywords such as 'light' and 'warm', but also 'realistic' and 'diagonals' and 'low angles'. Words that can all be applied to this photo and that fit into the movement called 'new photography'.
But who is she? It is known that he photographed many family members and friends, including stepdaughter Hans and his muse Eva Waldschmidt. But van der Poll was a photographer who moved a lot outside his own country, especially before the war. This woman looks Mediterranean, but she could just as well have come from Poland.
It could also have been a commissioned photograph, for an actress or a company. As an independent photographer, Van de Poll also worked for Philips and the Military Authority, and he was affiliated with photo press agencies such as Schostall (Paris/Vienna/Milan), Associated Press (Berlin) and Black Star (New York). He not only sold his photos to magazines and press agencies, but also turned them into ready-to-print articles, consisting of text, photos and captions written by him.
Van der Poll, who has been accused of a lack of social criticism partly because of his many portrait, fashion and advertising photos, made the booklet 'Nazi hell'. For this publication, he brought together photos from various concentration camps and provided them with text. A gripping book, which you actually want to put down immediately after you have read it, in which the final photograph is of a young Dutch woman, killed on the day before the liberation of Deventer.
In the Netherlands, van der Poll is especially known for the photographs he takes later, around the liberation, when he is in the company of Prince Bernhard. Van der Poll becomes the house photographer on Soestdijk. In this capacity, he photographed many members of the royal family.
Date: Unknown
Artist: Wim van der Poll
Product type: silver gelatine print
Authentication: stamp on back: Copyright van de Polland company LTD.Londen 136 New Bond street. Telephone: Mayfair 1656. NO:AS
Dimensions: print 22,5 cm x 19,1 cm
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We will provide additional high-res photographs for closer examination on request. Please e-mail your request to info@dof.amsterdam
The condition of a photograph generally, but not always, affects the overall value of the work. In early photography, condition issues are to be expected given the age of the print.
Press prints, by their nature, were handled more than fine-art prints because of their use for disseminating information, which explains why they may have more creases.