Arjan de Nooy  (1965)

 

Using my own as well as found images, I construct histories, archives, ‘scientific’ theories and other stories. Those works often have a fictional character in which my own role may vary from an art historian to a feminist, from a curator to an ornithologist. Presently, my main project is a new history of Dutch photography.

 

In an antique shop in Nijmegen (NL), I found a remarkable series of daguerreotypes. The photographs were of a smaller size than known daguerreotypes and the portraits were more zoomed in on the face than the usual ones made with this technique.

 

Elbertus Donkerwolk (1810-1859) was a barber. Since the beginning of the thirties, he was based in the Lange Burgstraat in Nijmegen, as a ‘coiffeur’ as he used to call it. His clientele consisted of upper-class ladies, who he tried to please in all possible ways. As a keen businessman, he was not afraid to try new ideas. He expanded his barber practice with additional products for its customers, such as perfumes and cleaning powders. In 1840 he heard about the invention of the Daguerreotype and he immediately studied this new technique. The business potential of the combination of hairdressing and photography did not elude him.
In 1841, Donkerwolk travelled to Paris to follow a course for making Daguerreotypes. He bought a kit and mastered the process quickly. The first successful experiments of Donkerwolk date back to 1842.

Read more: http://denooycollection.com/elbertus-donkerwolk

 

Arjan de Nooy studied Chemistry at Leiden University, PhD Chemistry at TU Delft, Photography at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (NL). He is involved in the periodical Salvo.