AMSTERDAM ART PAST AND PRESENT

From the collections of the Stadsarchief Amsterdam, the documents centre for the city - fascinating 1930s colour separation images by Bernard F. Eilers. Three samples of over 300 photos:

Herengracht



Albert Heijn grocery store, Kalverstraat 84



De Bijenkorf department store, Dam Square, 1937.




24oranges

The now infamous Vijzelgracht, a street in downtown Amsterdam where entire houses are sinking into the ground due to a series of major screw-ups in digging the new North-South metro line, was a sorry sight. Families were evacuated and their houses boarded up and declared ‘unfit to live in’.



Across the street, local artist Peter Doeswijk who lives and works on the Vijzelgracht came up with a cultural solution to poster up the boarded houses and hide the inevitable graffiti: by using famous artworks of Dutch Masters (Frans Hals, Vermeer and the likes). He has had other poster exhibitions on the Vijzelgracht during the actual construction and without his efforts, the street, which boasts famous manors such as the one of the Maison Descartes (French institute) would look even worse than it sounds.

Vijzelgracht photos taken by the Orangemaster.





Thanks to Prog Gold for the links to the Eiler's photos.