Adriaan Boer : 1875-1940

Biography- excerpt: Adriaan Boer began his career primarily as a portrait photographer. In 1893 he opened a studio in Nijkerk and in 1897 he moved to the Hoofdstraat in Baarn where he would live until 1912. During the summer months his mother rented out part of the house to boarding guests. The studio would later be moved to the Teding van Berkhoutstraat on the site of the later post office . He quickly made a name for himself and received important assignments, including from the Royal Family . Gradually, however, he also devoted himself to artistic photography, in the style of pictorialism. He photographed landscapes, farm scenes, farm interiors, still lifes and artistic portraits. The costumes of Spakenburg inspired him to photograph Brabant and Zeeland costumes. He took photos for advertising brochures for the Baarn dahlia grower Dick Hornsveld. He used the technique of heliogravure, which he learned in London , for art calendars. He preferred to work in bromoil, carbon and gum printing . In 1909 he won the gold medal at the international photography salon in Dresden. ⎯Wikipedia

Editorial comment for this plate:

With the plate.   (translated)

“Augustus” after a gum print by Adr. Boer.

May the consideration of this recording give many people the desire to also engage in this particularly beautiful process.

From the publisher of  Idzerda’s Handbook for the Gum-print  provides everything that is necessary and useful to know in this area.

It is indeed a pity that this plate is executed in heliogravure.

Perhaps an ordinary autotype would have been better and in that way the character of a calm, broad gum print would have been preserved more. The reproduction photographer has done an annoying amount of retouching. The ears of corn are “sharpened” and the trees have been retouched and the sky has been changed. I hope in the meantime, although the reproduction lacks the character of the gum print, that the viewer will feel something of what I feel, when seeing this simple row of sheaves of rye with sunlight gliding over it, against the beautifully shaped dark trees, above which a sky with low-hanging, stormy clouds on a hot August morning.

For those interested, it should be noted that the approx. 30 X 40 gum print was made from an enlarged paper negative.

The gum print was printed 7 to 8 times.