Pioneers Of Street Photography - I

On August the 2nd - 2012, TheStreetFactor quietly completed one year of showcasing, fresh,
unique, deviant and downright quirky, but exceptional works of Street Photography submitted by
our members from around the world.



To celebrate the 1st anniversary of TheStreetFactor, we present to you
the first part (hopefully) of a series of journals dedicated to the great masters:
The Pioneers of Street Photography.




George Hendrik Breitner
(Sep 12, 1857 - June 5, 1923) was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

An accomplished painter, Breitner worked with a number of famous Dutch artists like,
Hendrik Mesdag, S. Mesdag-van Houten, Theophile de Bock and Vincent van Gogh - with whom
he often roamed the streets to 'look for figures and nice scenes', as Van Gogh
wrote in a letter dated, '11 July 1883' to his brother, Theo van Gogh.




Four girls, location unknown, no date

*****


The discovery in 1996 of a large collection of photographic prints and negatives made
clear that Breitner was also a talented photographer of street life in the city.
Breitner would wander the streets of Amsterdam, photographing anything that caught his fancy.
He created many snapshot-style photographs on the streets as well as informal
images of people's home life.




Barrow-men with sand carts on the Jacob van Lennepkade, no date

*****


The photographs he took were less static than the typical professional
photographs of his contemporaries.

He was one of the first to explore the possibilities of the new hand-held cameras,
which were easy to carry and inconspicuous.
He photographed life on the streets of
that dynamic city.




Horses and a passerby on Cruquiusweg, no date

*****


In the approximately 30 surviving photographs taken during his
various stays in Paris, showed a great many horses, which at the time dominated
the street scene.




View on the Waalseilandsgracht, Amsterdam, 1905

*****


Breitner also 'experimented' with various photographic techniques.
By photographing against the light, for example, he created powerful silhouettes.
And by adopting a very high or very low standpoint, he lent his photos an unusual
perspective.




Bloemstraat-1893

*****


Not only was he successful in evoking the vitality of a large city
and the liveliness of its passers-by, he also knew how to create an alienating
effect by photographing individuals at very close quarters.





Two girls in a snowy garden

*****


Breitner was a voracious photographer, unflinching and impulsive.
These qualities lend his photos an intensity that is lacking in the work of the
professional photographers active in his day, who as a rule produced images that
were more static and perfunctory.
Breitnerbroke with all the traditional rules and regulations.




Het Kolkje and OudezijdsAchterburgwal in Amsterdam, 1894-1898

*****


Breitner is remembered in a Dutch figure of speech: when the streets are grey and rainy,
people of Amsterdam whisper grimly "Echt Breitnerweer"
Translated: Typical Breitnerweather.




  

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Excerpts and Photographs shamelessly lifted and edited from:
- FINAL Press Release Breitner - Pionnier of Streetphotography 2011 -
- Wikipedia -</sub>