As a guest curator at the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Willem van Zoetendaal made a selection from its photo archives for the exhibition Springvloed / Spring Tide. He limited himself to portraits of women and still lifes taken indoors and in their natural setting. The photographs are shown in their entirety, not trimmed, even where it was the photographer’s intention ultimately to enlarge the required part of the exposure to fit a frame. In that context the cover picture for this book, which was issued to accompany the exhibition, is a brilliant choice.
The selection we see here is a festive parade not just of visual rhyme or graphic matching but also of photographers. The image on each recto comes from the same photographer as that on the next following verso. Arranging the photos this way provides easy justification for using the Japanese style of binding: this way the photographer too is framed by the same sheet of white paper.
The respect and rhythm with which the images are handled are a little difficult to reconcile with the occasionally inconsistent typography. As the panel saw it, there were just a few too many different text styles and needless tiny black rules. The use of orange, too, was found somewhat baffling, even a little dated. But what a wonderful choice of cover material, Stucco Old Mill, which feels so much more agreeable than sulphate board. It was the quality of the printing combined with the binding and picture concept that swung the deal. A nice example of a good and carefully published museum exhibition catalogue.