Ed van der Elsken
Nigeria, 1959
silver gelatin print, analogue barite print on Ilford neutral tone paper
Image: 25,2 x 38 cm
Paper: 40,6 x 30,5 cm
Paper: 40,6 x 30,5 cm
edition 1/20 printed by Hans Bol in 2007
'Here is a change for you. Africa today. Mechanization, industrialization. An african and a machine - and what a machine!. The new magic. The Magician - or the magician's apprentice...
"Here is a change for you. Africa today. Mechanization, industrialization. An african and a machine - and what a machine!. The new magic. The Magician - or the magician's apprentice - is allowed to take the controls, to see what he can do with the contraption, what he can make it do. What will it do to him?" From: Ed van der Elsken, 'Sweet Life', Amsterdam, De Bezige Bij 1966
"Man and Machine, Nigeria, 1959. In 1959 and 1960 Van der Elsken made a fourteen-month journey around the world together with his wife Gerda. Their first stop was West Africa. The straightforward title of this picture- one of his most famous- aptly describes the striking bond it portrays. The elegant and almost reverential way in which the man approaches the machine is both humorous and moving." - Visser, Hripsime, " Ed van der Elsken 55". New York: Phaidon Press, 2002.
"Man and Machine, Nigeria, 1959. In 1959 and 1960 Van der Elsken made a fourteen-month journey around the world together with his wife Gerda. Their first stop was West Africa. The straightforward title of this picture- one of his most famous- aptly describes the striking bond it portrays. The elegant and almost reverential way in which the man approaches the machine is both humorous and moving." - Visser, Hripsime, " Ed van der Elsken 55". New York: Phaidon Press, 2002.
Exhibitions
Sixties, Haag Gemeentemuseum, January 20 - April 24, 2007
2/12 consignatie photographers gallery London 2001
Literature
Visser, Hripsime. Ed van der Elsken 55. New York: Phaidon Press, 2002.
Brödbeck, A., Lütgens, A. Ed van der Elsken: Fotografie + Film 1949-1990.[exh.cat]. Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2000.
Elsken, Ed van der. Once Upon a Time. Amsterdam: Fragment Uitgeverij, 1992.
Elsken, Ed van der. Sweet Life, Amsterdam: de Bezige Bij, 1966.